What to Know
- Once known as a defender of the powerless in class-action lawsuits against corporations, Tom Girardi has represented plaintiffs in several high-profile cases.
- The 85-year-old Girardi was accused of running a 10-year Ponzi scheme and stealing settlement funds from four clients.
- Girardi suffers from dementia but was deemed able to assist in his own defense.
Guilty verdicts were delivered Tuesday morning in the Los Angeles federal criminal trial of former Southern California attorney Tom Girardi, who was accused of running a 10-year Ponzi scheme and embezzling tens of millions of dollars of settlement funds from clients.
Girardi, who has represented plaintiffs in a number of high-profile cases, allegedly took at least $15 million in settlement funds from four of his clients. The Seal Beach resident was found guilty on four counts of wire fraud.
The jury began deliberations Monday before leaving for the day on the 12th day of trial.
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Girardi allegedly spent the settlement money on private jets, golf club memberships, jewelry and the career of his now-estranged wife, "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Erika Jayne.
“Tom Girardi built celebrity status and lured in victims by falsely portraying himself as a ‘Champion of Justice,’” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “In reality, he was a Robin-Hood-in-reverse, stealing from the needy to support of a lavish, Hollywood lifestyle. Today’s verdict shows that the game is up – we can all now see this defendant for what he was and the victims he callously betrayed.”
Girardi, 85, suffers from dementia but was deemed able to assist in his own defense.
Prosecutors allege the fraud scheme lasted from 2010 to 2020 and involved many more ex-clients than the four involved in the current case.
"He wanted the outside world to believe he was fighting for people who couldn't help themselves," Assistant U.S. Attorney Ali Moghaddas told the jury Monday in closing arguments.
Moghadds said clients expecting settlement funds waited as "days turned into months and months turned into years."
Charles Snyder, a deputy federal public defender who is representing the defendant, told the jury that as his client's cognitive impairment worsened over the years. Employees of the defendant's now-closed Girardi Keese law firm were stealing funds "hand over fist," he said.
"Girardi was not paying close attention," Snyder said.
On Thursday, Girardi was the final witness called by his lawyers to testify.
"Every client got every penny that every client was supposed to get," he claimed.
The defendant blamed his firm's former chief accountant, Chris Kamon, for the missing money. Kamon, 50, is scheduled to stand trial separately in January on wire fraud charges, accused of pocketing about $50 million from Girardi Keese accounts.
Once known as a defender of the powerless in class-action lawsuits against corporations, Girardi's high-profile cases include Bryan Stow's civil suit against Major League Baseball. Stow was the San Francisco Giants fan who sustained severe injuries during an attack in a Dodger Stadium parking lot.
Girardi also represented plaintiffs in the toxic groundwater case against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. that was dramatized in the Oscar-winning 2000 Julia Roberts movie ``Erin Brockovich.''
Jayne filed for divorce from Girardi in 2020 after a 21-year marriage. Following the split, the couple listed their Pasadena home for sale at a price of $13 million. Jayne has not been charged in the case against her husband.
