Among his public claims about Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss were that they could be seen “passing around USB ports like they were vials of heroin or cocaine” in CCTV footage which actually showed them exchanging a sweet while carrying out their work processing legitimate ballots.

The mother-and-daughter, who are black, said they experienced a “living nightmare” when Trump supporters and conspiracy theorists began harassing them over the claims.

Although their lawyers had sought damages between $15.5 million to $43 million, a jury in Washington, D.C. on Friday decided to award the pair $75 million in punitive damages and $36 million for the defamation and emotional distress.

Mr Giuliani’s lawyer previously told the court that the sum sought by the two women “will be the end of Mr Giuliani” and the “civil equivalent of the death penalty”.

The ruling is the latest in a series of legal woes for the former prosecutor and New York mayor. He is facing criminal charges in relation to the 2020 election claims and a number of civil lawsuits, including from his own lawyers who claim he failed to pay their bills. His licenses to practice law in New York and Washington, D.C. have been suspended.