NEW YORK (AP) — Rudy Giuliani will appear in a New York City courtroom Thursday to explain to a federal judge why he failed to return his valuables as part of a $148 million defamation judgment.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman ordered the former New York mayor is due in court after lawyers for the two former Georgia election officials who won the massive judgment visited Giuliani’s Manhattan apartment last week to find he had been empty weeks earlier.

Judge set Oct. 29 as deadline for once-and-future’s longtime ally President Donald Trump to hand over many of his assets to the lawyers of Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss.

The belongings include his $5 million Upper East Side apartment, a 1980 Mercedes once owned by movie star Lauren Bacall, a shirt signed by New York Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio, dozens of watches from luxury and other valuable items.

Liman had initially planned a conference call about the situation, but he changed it to a hearing in Manhattan federal court that Giuliani must attend after the judge learned of the visit to the former mayor’s apartment.

Aaron Nathan, an attorney for the election workers, wrote in a letter to Liman that the residence was already “virtually empty” when his clients’ representatives visited a moving company official to assess transportation needs and storage facility at the property Giuliani was ordered to go to.

He said the group was informed that most of the apartment’s contents, including artwork, sports memorabilia and other valuables, had been moved about four weeks previously, with some going into storage on Long Island.

Representatives for Giuliani did not respond to an email Wednesday seeking comment.

So far, they have argued, unsuccessfully, that Giuliani should not be forced to return his assets while he appeals the ruling.

Liman also rejected a request from Giuliani’s legal team to postpone Thursday’s court appearance until next week or hold it by telephone, as originally planned.

A spokesperson for Giuliani, meanwhile, called the legal wrangling an intimidation tactic.

“Opposing attorneys, acting either negligently or deliberately deceptively, are simply attempting to further intimidate Mayor Giuliani until he is left penniless and homeless,” said Ted Goodman, his spokesperson. floor, earlier this week.

Giuliani was found guilty of defamation for falsely accusing Freeman and Moss of election fraud while pushing Trump’s unsubstantiated election fraud claims during the 2020 campaign.

The women said they were threatened with death after Giuliani accused them of sneaking ballots into suitcases, counting the ballots multiple times and tampering with voting machines.