On Friday afternoon, a jury ruled that Rudy Giuliani must pay $148 million to two women he falsely accused of helping tamper with election results in Georgia. It's a verdict that comes almost exactly three years after he appeared in front of state legislators in the swing state and tried to convince them that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump by poll workers like Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea ArShaye "Shaye" Moss. A deceptively edited video was used to claim that they were adding fake ballots to the totals and doctoring computer tallies with a USB drive; in reality, they were counting papers from regular ballot boxes and sharing a mint.

While state officials quickly debunked the allegations of election fraud, Giuliani continued to spread the accusations in television appearances and on social media. The two women sued a few weeks later, saying they "have become objects of vitriol, threats, and harassment . . . because of a campaign of malicious lies." The two Black women testified in front of Congress and then before a federal jury in Washington that violent, racist threats forced them into hiding. Moss quit the job she loved as an election worker; Freeman abandoned her home.

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How did the jury get to $148 million?

The jurors were asked to award damages to compensate for the reputational harm done to the two women, damages for the emotional distress caused and punitive damages to make a statement about the seriousness of the conduct.

The plaintiffs only gave a suggested number for the reputational harm; a sociologist from Northwestern University testified that it would cost roughly $47 million to counter all the false allegations about the two women on social media. A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Michael Gottlieb, said Moss should also be compensated for the roughly $800,000 she would have accumulated over a lifetime had she remained in her job as an election worker. On those damages, the jury went lower than asked, awarding Freeman roughly $16 million and Moss roughly $17 million.

Gottlieb gave no suggested number for emotional and punitive damages. But he urged the jury to "send a message . . . to Giuliani and any other powerful figure with a platform and an audience who is considering whether they will take this chance for seeking profit and fame by assassinating the character of ordinary people." The message: "Those ordinary people will stand up and fight back. Facts matter. Truth is truth and you will be held accountable."

The jury responded by awarding each woman $20 million for emotional distress and added a whopping $75 million in punitive damages.

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What happens before plaintiffs can collect?

Chris Mattei, who represented the families of the Sandy Hook mass killing victims who secured a $1.5 billion judgment against Infowars host Alex Jones for defamation, said Giuliani can probably delay paying this penalty in several ways.

"Giuliani is certain to appeal, and while any appeal is pending, the plaintiffs won't have a final judgment to enforce," Mattei said. Giuliani can argue that Judge Beryl A. Howell was wrong to find him liable for defamation before trial and that the jury's award was unreasonable. But Mattei said the women can move to require Giuliani to pay a bond that would keep him from drawing down his assets while the appeal is pending.

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Can Giuliani avoid paying by going bankrupt?

No, according to former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara McQuade. On Thursday night, she said on MSNBC that debts for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress cannot be eliminated through bankruptcy.

But that doesn't mean he won't try to re-litigate whether his conduct was, in the words of bankruptcy law, "willful and malicious." Jones did exactly that. That fight would take place before a bankruptcy judge and is another way Giuliani could delay payment. During that time, the former New York mayor "could . . . try to negotiate some kind of post-verdict settlement," Mattei said. Sandy Hook families recently offered to settle with Jones for around $85 million.

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What can Giuliani actually pay?

We don't know. His refusal to provide the plaintiffs with information on his finances was part of the reason Howell found him liable for defamation without a trial, leaving the jury only to decide how much he owed in damages.

In closing arguments, Gottlieb told jurors that the former New York mayor and Trump attorney still makes regular media appearances and has a deal with the right-wing network Newsmax. "Giuliani profited from these lies," Gottlieb said. "We don't know how much."

In 2007, when Giuliani ran for president, he listed financial assets worth between $18 million and $70 million thanks to the consulting firm he launched after stepping down as mayor. He has come down in the world since, in part thanks to a bitter, expensive divorce from his third wife. But he continued to bring in money during the Trump administration by working for foreign governments, without disclosing how much money he made or from where it came.

Giuliani said through his attorneys in the case that he "is having financial difficulties." He is being sued by his former lawyer for $1.3 million in fees and is trying to sell his New York apartment for $6.1 million. Giuliani did get some help from his old boss - a political committee affiliated with Trump paid Giuliani $350,000, and the former president held a $100,000-a-head fundraiser for Giuliani in the fall.

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Is this the end of litigation for Freeman and Moss?

No. They settled with the far-right One America News Network, which subsequently acknowledged on-air that a state investigation found that the two women "did not engage in ballot fraud or criminal misconduct." But they are still suing the Gateway Pundit, the website that first identified them by name, in Missouri state court. In his closing argument, Giuliani's defense attorney argued that the right-wing site, not Giuliani, was "Patient Zero" in spreading falsehoods about the two poll workers. In court filings, attorneys for Gateway Pundit founder Jim Hoft have said in court filings that the site was merely reflecting what was being asserted by Trump's legal team, which Giuliani led.

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Spencer S. Hsu, Tom Jackman and Azi Paybarah contributed to this report.