Disbarred authorized heavyweight Tom Girardi convicted of fraud over 10-year Ponzi scheme

Former high-powered litigator Tom Girardi was convicted Tuesday of working an enormous 10-year Ponzi scheme by which prosecutors stated he siphoned no less than $15 million in settlement funds from 4 of his shoppers.

Jurors convicted the 85-year-old Girardi of 4 counts of wire fraud for stealing from injured shoppers and spending cash on personal jets, golf membership memberships, jewellery and the profession of his now-estranged spouse, “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne.

The jury started deliberating Monday afternoon following closing arguments, and deliberated for about two hours Tuesday morning earlier than saying {that a} verdict had been reached.

Girardi confirmed no seen response because the verdicts have been learn. Girardi suffers from dementia however was deemed in a position to help in his personal protection in the course of the trial, and he even testified.

During closing arguments Monday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ali Moghaddas instructed the jury that Girardi “wished the skin world to consider he was preventing for individuals who couldn’t assist themselves,” however as a substitute, shoppers who have been anticipating settlement funds waited as “days was months and months was years.”

Charles Snyder, a deputy federal public defender who’s representing the defendant, instructed the jury that as his shopper’s cognitive impairment worsened over time, workers of the defendant’s now-closed Girardi Keese legislation agency — not Girardi — have been stealing funds “hand over fist.”

“Girardi was not paying shut consideration” to the operation of his agency, Snyder stated, saying his shopper “acquired outdated, acquired sick, and misplaced his thoughts.”

Prosecutors stated the fraud scheme lasted from 2010 to 2020 and concerned many extra ex-clients than the 4 concerned within the present case.

The 4 wire fraud counts corresponded to 4 victims whose settlement funds have been allegedly pilfered by the disgraced ex-attorney. They are: Joe Ruigomez, who suffered burns on most of his physique when a fuel line exploded, killing his girlfriend; Judy Selberg, whose husband was killed in a boating calamity; Josefina Hernandez, who was injured by a defective medical machine; and Erika Saldana, whose one-year outdated child was badly injured in a automobile crash with a drunk driver. The child later died.

Last Thursday, Girardi was the ultimate witness known as by his attorneys to testify, claiming “each shopper acquired each penny that each shopper was imagined to get.”

The defendant blamed his agency’s former chief accountant, Chris Kamon, for the lacking cash. From the witness stand, Girardi stated Kamon “was fairly intelligent in stealing hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.”

Kamon, 50, is scheduled to face trial individually in January on wire fraud fees, accused of pocketing about $50 million from Girardi Keese accounts.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Paetty instructed jurors in his rebuttal argument Monday that Kamon will quickly face his day in courtroom. At the identical time, he stated, simply because the previous accountant allegedly siphoned settlement funds, it doesn’t make Girardi harmless.

“It simply makes Girardi Keese a den of thieves, and it makes Girardi the thief-in-chief,” Paetty stated.

Snyder instructed the jury in L.A. federal courtroom in his closing that whereas Girardi grew to become an more and more confused “dangerous manager” of the agency, Kamon was working as a “virtuoso” of fraud.

However, Moghaddas stated it was Girardi who handled attorney-client belief accounts as “his private piggy financial institution,” including that some shoppers by no means noticed something of their settlements.

Earlier this 12 months, after a number of days of hearings, Girardi was discovered competent to face trial regardless of his declare that he has Alzheimer’s illness and is incapable of helping his attorneys. He is free on $250,000 bond and lives within the safe reminiscence ward of an Orange County nursing dwelling.

Once often known as a defender of the powerless in class-action lawsuits towards companies, Girardi represented plaintiffs in numerous high-profile circumstances, together with Bryan Stow’s civil swimsuit towards Major League Baseball. Stow was the San Francisco Giants fan who sustained extreme accidents throughout an assault in a Dodger Stadium car parking zone.

Girardi additionally represented plaintiffs within the poisonous groundwater case towards Pacific Gas & Electric Co. that was dramatized within the Oscar-winning 2000 Julia Roberts film “Erin Brockovich.”

Jayne filed for divorce from Girardi in 2020 after a 21-year marriage. Following the cut up, the couple listed their Pasadena dwelling on the market at a value of $13 million. Jayne has not been charged within the case towards her husband.