Disgraced Los Angeles attorney Tom Girardi has been convicted of wire fraud after he was accused of embezzling millions of dollars from clients, including victims of catastrophic accidents and families who lost loved ones.
A jury on Tuesday found Girardi, the estranged husband of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne, guilty on four counts stemming from a decade-long scheme. The octogenarian, who is set to be sentenced in December, faces up to 80 years in prison.
Girardi reportedly turned down a journalist’s request for comment after his trial, with the now-disbarred lawyer chuckling and then saying, “No, No.”
HuffPost did not hear back from Girardi’s legal team when asked if there were any plans to appeal.
Before his fall from grace, Girardi was known as one of the more powerful and well-connected lawyers in Los Angeles, securing multimillion-dollar settlements as a personal injury attorney.
One of his most prominent cases, a lawsuit against California’s Pacific Gas and Electric Company, was the inspiration for the Academy Award-winning drama “Erin Brockovich,” starring Julia Roberts.
He also represented families of victims of the 2018 Lion Air Flight 610 crash in Indonesia, as well as Bryan Stow, a San Francisco Giants fan who sued Major League Baseball after he was attacked and severely injured in a Dodger Stadium parking lot in 2011.
Myung J. Chun via Getty Images
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Girardi used the money he embezzled to fund an extravagant lifestyle, which was seen on Jayne’s reality series.
“Mr. Girardi exploited his clients’ misfortunes on a grand scale,” read a statement from Tyler Hatcher of IRS Criminal Investigation, the law enforcement division of the IRS.
“His clients sought his help in the wake of significant trauma and injury, yet he violated their trust to steal from them and fund his own lavish lifestyle, and he will now face the consequences of his actions.”
Ahead of his trial, Girardi’s team argued that his 2021 diagnosis of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease and dementia made him mentally incompetent and therefore unable to assist his attorneys in the case.
A judge in January deemed him capable of standing trial, however.
Throughout the proceedings, Girardi’s public defenders claimed that Christopher Kamon, the former chief financial officer at the now-shuttered law firm Girardi Keese, was the one behind the financial scheme.
The defense described Girardi’s involvement at the firm as a “Weekend at Bernie’s” style situation, with people at Girardi Keese “propping him up to keep the party going.”
Kamon was charged alongside Girardi in Los Angeles but is set to go to trial separately in January.
Girardi, Kamon and David Lira, Girardi’s son-in-law, face similar charges in a case in Chicago, where they are scheduled to go to trial next year for allegedly misappropriating millions in settlement funds related to the Lion Air Flight 610 crash. All three have pleaded not guilty.
