Tom Girardi found guilty of embezzling millions in client money

Former high-powered litigator Tom Girardi exits the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles with Natalie Degrati.

Staff Writer

Aug. 27, 2024 3:32 PM PT

A federal court jury in Los Angeles found Tom Girardi, once a legal titan and now a disgraced former attorney, guilty Tuesday of wire fraud for leading a years long scheme in which he embezzled tens of millions of dollars.

The verdict concluded a 13-day trial in which prosecutors elicited emotional testimony from former clients, including a burn victim and a widow whose husband died in a boating accident, employees of the now-closed law firm Girardi Keese and an outside attorney who struggled to get a woman the settlement money she’d been granted.

As clients went unpaid, prosecutors told the jury, Girardi spent money on private jets, country clubs and the entertainment career of his now-estranged wife, Erika Girardi, a star of “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”

Girardi, 85, had been on trial on four counts of wire fraud; he was found guilty on all four.

The jury deliberated for roughly four hours before delivering a verdict. Girardi, in the same gray blazer he’d worn throughout the trial, swiveled back and forth in his chair as he waited to hear his fate.

He turned to watch Judge Josephine Staton as she read the verdict, face impassive. As she recited the final guilty verdict, he rubbed his forehead. He could be sentenced to up to 80 years in prison.

After the proceedings ended, Girardi was asked by a reporter if he wanted to comment. He chuckled and said, “No. No.”

Kathleen Ruigomez, the mother of a teenager who had been injured in an explosion, sat in the front row of the courtroom. She’d testified for the prosecution and cried as the verdict was read.

Federal public defenders and the prosecutors in the case declined to comment.

But in a news conference outside the courthouse, U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada called Girardi a “disgraced lawyer” who portrayed himself “as a champion for the little guy.”

“Mr. Girardi was no champion for justice, in fact he was a perpetrator of injustice, victimizing his own clients when they were most vulnerable and most in need,” Estrada said. “This verdict represents a remarkable fall from grace.”

Sentencing is set for Dec. 6. Girardi will remain free until then. Staton said he is neither a danger to the community nor a flight risk.

Outside the courthouse, juror Miguel Lopez told The Times the jury believed Girardi was guilty because “all the evidence was there.” He said jurors relied on that evidence, and “it wasn’t a hard decision.”

During the trial, Girardi’s federal public defenders contended their client was mentally incompetent, unable to assist his own attorneys — let alone retain any short-term memory — and in the throes of progressive cognitive decline.

“Mr. Girardi got old, and he got sick, and he lost his mind,” Deputy Public Defender Charles Snyder told the jury on Monday.

Snyder argued that Girardi was running the firm in name only and called it a “Weekend at Bernie’s” situation in which partners at the firm were “propping him up to keep the party going.”

Prosecutors acknowledged in closing arguments that Girardi appeared to be dealing with cognitive issues in 2020, but they urged the jury to think back to 2010 when the scheme first began — something that seemed to resonate.

“He has mental problems, but it just started right now,” Lopez said about Girardi. “It wasn’t from before.”

During the trial, the white-haired Girardi shuffled to and from his seat next to his lawyers, his hands trembling as he went. A woman in scrubs at times guided him, and, in one instance, when the jury was not in the room, Girardi snapped at one of his lawyers trying to direct him to the correct seat.

“I know how to sit,” the defendant said.

But it remained unclear how out of it Girardi really was, as he jotted down notes on a yellow legal pad while witnesses testified for the prosecution. At times, Girardi appeared to be trying to direct his lawyers, handing one of them a paper he’d written on before he took the stand.

The guilty verdict was the latest low point for Girardi, who over the course of his decades-long career cultivated close ties with mayors, governors, senators, judges and Supreme Court justices. A once-legendary plaintiff’s attorney, he was revered — and feared — by fellow attorneys for the nine-figure settlements he brokered and the powerful officials he counted as friends.

During the news conference Tuesday afternoon, Estrada acknowledged the influence Girardi had with other lawyers and judges.

“Mr. Girardi was a lawyer who had it all. He was considered one of the best lawyers in America, he had one of the biggest and one of the most successful firms in America,” Estrada said. “He was paid very well for all that he did, but that wasn’t enough for him. He wanted even more. His insatiable appetite for money is what led him to court and what led to this verdict.”

Girardi’s defense lawyers laid the blame for the massive fraud at Girardi Keese on the firm’s longtime chief financial officer, Chris Kamon, accusing him of stealing more than $50 million. Kamon is also charged with wire fraud in connection with the theft of client money, along with a separate case in which he is accused of embezzling funds from the firm to finance the purchase of homes and a $20,000-per-month payment to his girlfriend.

“This was Mr. Kamon’s scheme,” Snyder said in closing arguments. “This was absolutely not [Girardi’s] fraud.”

Girardi’s law firm imploded in late 2020 amid evidence that he stole settlements from widows and orphans in an Indonesian plane crash, and hundreds of former clients and vendors came forward saying they were collectively cheated out of hundreds of millions of dollars. He was disbarred in July 2022.

During the trial, former clients of the firm told the jury they had been impressed by Girardi’s record of successes — including securing a $333-million settlement against Pacific Gas & Electric featured in the movie “Erin Brockovich.” He made promises that everything would be fine and told them not to worry, they said.

“I trusted him too much,” testified Joseph Ruigomez, who suffered catastrophic burn injuries as a teenager in a 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion, which killed his girlfriend.

After Girardi negotiated a $53-million settlement for the family, Ruigomez and his mother detailed late payments and excuses piling up. An IRS agent later testified that some of the Ruigomez settlement funds went to compensate other Girardi clients whose settlements he had previously misappropriated.

In voicemails and letters presented in court, Girardi repeated the same refrain to frustrated clients asking for the money they were owed: “Don’t be mad at me.”

“He picked these people in the darkest hour of their life and told them what he thought they’d believe,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Ali Moghaddas told the jury in closing arguments Monday. “What you saw in this case is, for years, the defendant was running a Ponzi scheme.”

Lopez, the juror, said the most damaging evidence against Girardi were the lies he told clients. Lopez said the client money was supposed to be in the trust account, and Girardi was using the money for “personal reasons.”

The juror said he felt bad for the victims who testified, including Ruigomez, Josefina Hernandez, who was injured by a medical device and fighting bankruptcy, Judy Selberg, who lost her husband in a boating accident and Erika Saldana, whose 1-year-old son became paraplegic after a drunk driver hit the family car.

Saldana’s son later died. Her family never received an outstanding $1 million they were owed.

“A lot of people were in pain, and he was taking advantage of them,” Lopez said.

During the trial, Girardi’s federal public defenders called more than 10 witnesses, including Dr. Helena Chui, who testified that Girardi has dementia; his former housekeeper of about 20 years; and his secretaries at the law firm.

Lopez said the jury believed the doctor prosecutors had called to the stand, “because he has more information” and Chui “did not have enough information on the case.”

Girardi faces another trial in 2025 in Chicago on charges that he and others at the firm stole payouts made by Boeing to families whose loved ones died in an Indonesian plane crash.

Times staff writer Matt Hamilton contributed to this report.