The court found that Giuliani, the former New York mayor who served as personal lawyer to Trump, “baselessly attacked and undermined the integrity of this country’s electoral process” and “actively contributed to the national strife that has followed the 2020 presidential election, for which he is entirely unrepentant”.

Giuliani was one of the leading proponents of claims that Trump’s defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 was the result of widespread voter fraud.

Federal and state election officials and Trump’s attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the 2020 election was tainted.

A Giuliani spokesperson said he would appeal the decision, calling it “politically and ideologically corrupted”.

Giuliani previously argued that he believed his statements were true and he did not intend to spread false claims.

Giuliani, who in the 1980s served as US attorney in Manhattan, had been suspended from practising law in New York since 2021, following Trump supporters’ January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol.

He is also facing professional discipline in Washington DC, where an ethics panel has recommended he be disbarred.