Rudy Giuliani insists he's not hiding assets at contempt hearing over $148 million judgment

NEW YORK — Rudy Giuliani seemed to favorably impress a judge with three hours of testimony Friday at a contempt hearing as he insisted he's not hiding assets from lawyers trying to recover a $148 million judgment for two Georgia election workers.

Judge Lewis J. Liman seemed less inclined to find the former mayor in contempt for failing to turn over some assets, including a valuable signed Joe DiMaggio jersey that appeared to go missing after Giuliani said he last saw it around Sept. 11 in his Manhattan apartment.

The judge said Giuliani can finish his testimony Monday by appearing remotely from his Florida residence as he explains why some assets and the paperwork related to them have been hard to locate and forfeit.

When he asked a lawyer for the election workers if the plaintiffs were more interested in recovering assets than finding Giuliani in contempt, attorney Meryl Conant Governski quickly agreed, saying contempt was not ''our primary goal.''

Governski, more matter-of-fact than confrontational, elicited from Giuliani how overwhelmed he felt by court orders coming at him in multiple cases across the country at once.

She left the judge, at times, to jump in with a stern statement, like when he told Giuliani flatly: ''You're in violation of a court order at least in regards to that,'' referring to the DiMaggio jersey.

Giuliani said repeatedly that he wasn't purposefully trying to withhold assets. He portrayed himself as forgetful, disorganized at times and having delegated to others some of the chores regarding his assets and the legal case surrounding them.

He said he has turned over all his valuable watches except for a 120-year-old gold watch that his grandfather gave him.

''I was holding it so it didn't get lost,'' he said. ''I felt like it could get lost if it was turned over.''

When the judge asked if he understood that the watch was required to be turned over, he said he ''wasn't trying to hide it from anyone'' and would give it up ''if you can assure me you'll put it in a safe place.''

Giuliani said the New York Yankees had been very good to him and he at one point had as many as 100 Yankees items, but he gave most everything away, including signed pictures of Reggie Jackson and Joe DiMaggio together and another of Yogi Berra and Babe Ruth.

''I get confused about what I have and don't have,'' he said, claiming he lost some belongings during his most recent divorce six years ago.

They said in court papers this week that he has turned over a Mercedes-Benz and his New York apartment but not the paperwork necessary to monetize the assets. And they said he has failed to surrender watches and sports memorabilia, including the DiMaggio jersey, and not ''a single dollar from his nonexempt cash accounts.''

Liman said in an order last week that Giuliani's lawyer should be ready to explain why he should not be held in contempt with resulting sanctions that could make it less likely he gets to keep his Florida home. A trial over the disposition of the Palm Beach condominium and World Series rings is scheduled for mid-January.

Giuliani says the Palm Beach property is his personal residence now and should be shielded from the judgment.

His lawyers have predicted that he will eventually win custody of the items on appeal.

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