Where's Rudy hiding his stuff?

You may recall that last month a New York judge ordered Giuliani to hand over his Manhattan penthouse and all the belongings within to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the mother-daughter Atlanta election workers who he defamed and now owes $150 million. But when their lawyers visited the apartment on Halloween, they found it to be mostly empty. 

Weird? Yes. But it gets weirder.

In a letter to Judge Lewis Liman on Monday, Freeman and Moss’ attorneys wrote that much of the property had been moved out four weeks ago and, “Defendant’s counsel informed the Receivers’ counsel that some unspecified property is now in storage at a facility in Ronkonkoma, New York, but has not disclosed what property is stored there.” Ronkonkoma is a town on Long Island more than an hour outside the city. 

Seems random, yes? But actually, no. As soon as I saw the town mentioned, an alarm went off in my head:

It had to be The America First Warehouse, a venue opened in 2019 in the very same town, run by ultra-MAGA loyalists. They frequently host Trump-themed events, like a MAGA Bootcamp for Boomers hosted by former Trump official Peter Navarro and Christian extremist Kirk Cameron, among others.

Recently the warehouse made headlines for the America First Patriotic Designer Showcase fashion show, held the night before Trump’s rally on Long Island. They have a partnership with David Zere of Real America’s Voice (Steve Bannon’s far right media network) and Mordecai Mission—a born-again Christian organization for whom they host events—as well as Bible study every Thursday with the Christ to Conquer the Nations ministry.

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The letter to the judge on Monday included copies of emails between Freeman and Moss’ lawyers and Giuliani’s team in which they say they were provided with an email address associated with the America First Warehouse. They write that they reached out via the address for more information on the whereabouts of Giuliani’s stuff but never received a reply. 

So I was right. Sort of.

I called the main number at the warehouse Tuesday morning and asked the woman who answered if it was true that Rudy Giuliani was storing some of his belongings there. “We’re a patriotic venue, not a warehouse,” she said.” (The name indicates otherwise, but I digress.) When I asked to clarify if they were storing his things there, she replied, “No, he’s not storing things at the America First Warehouse.”

But I knew that wasn’t the end of the story. See, I’d started researching this facility when I first heard about it in early September and my Google Doc was ready to go. 

I knew America’s First Warehouse was owned by Joseph Verderber AKA Joe the Box, a wannabe local media personality. In an Instagram caption last year, Verderber wrote: “An America First Terrorist. I love this country. I am a terrorist against Communism.” And in an interview at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) earlier this year, Verderber said, “we want to take back every town on Long Island” because it “belongs to our God.” He was a vocal supporter of Andrew Giuliani in the 2022 Republican Gubernatorial primary, and in a recent interview referred to Rudy as his “best friend.”

Verderber also owns Corporate Transfer and Storage Inc., a moving and storage company whose headquarters are around the corner from the event venue in Ronkonkoma. So I decided to give Corporate Transfer a call to see if they had any information.

Once I reached the appropriate extension, a woman answered and I introduced myself as a reporter. When I first asked if there was someone I could speak to in order to confirm Giuliani was storing some belongings there, she said, “There would be no one to comment.” When I tried to clarify that she was saying the company has no comment, she took about a 10-second pause. Then she said, “I don’t know who you are, and I wouldn’t speak to you anyway.” So I identified myself again and asked her for her name. She wouldn’t give it to me. Then she said, “I can’t speak right now. I’m not in the office.” I said okay, can we speak when you’re in the office? Then I gave her my phone number and she hung up. I don’t think I’ll be hearing from her.

The Handbasket can neither confirm nor deny at this time that Giuliani is storing some of his belongings that are now rightfully owned by Freeman and Moss at a Long Island warehouse. But I can confirm the people at the warehouse were really weird about it.

Giuliani’s association with Verderber’s company has been well-publicized. Here’s him advertising an event there in September:

And Verderber was listed as a guest at Giuliani’s 80th birthday party at an Italian restaurant in Manhattan in late May. 

“A van bearing a decal reading ‘ULTRA MAGA’ was parked on the corner of the block,” The New York Times reported at the time. “It belonged to a party guest who called himself ‘Joe the Box.’ He is the proprietor of what is known as the America First warehouse, a Suffolk County depot for Trump-themed merchandise.”

Despite this big switcheroo going public, Giuliani is decidedly not keeping a low profile. The judge also ordered him to hand over his vintage Mercedes to Freeman and Moss as part of their compensation. Instead, he showed up in the car on Tuesday at Trump’s polling place in Florida.

The judge has ordered Giuliani to appear in court on Thursday to explain himself.