A federal jury in Los Angeles on Tuesday convicted Tom Girardi, a disbarred California attorney who U.S. prosecutors accused of stealing $15 million in settlement money from clients, of four counts of wire fraud, prosecutors announced.
Girardi, 85, whose pollution lawsuit against a California utility company was the subject of the Oscar-winning film “Erin Brockovich,” is accused of defrauding clients and embezzling settlement money from personal injury lawsuits.
Girardi has blamed the fraud allegations on Christopher Cammon, the former chief financial officer of the law firm Girardi Keith & Co. Girardi's lawyers also claim their client suffers from dementia.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office confirmed the sentence but declined further comment. Girardi's federal public defender did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cammon and Girardi were indicted in Los Angeles on wire fraud charges. Tried separately In January, Kamon Facing separate charges Kamon is accused of embezzling $10 million from Girardi Keith and spending it on extensive home renovations, luxury sports cars and escort services. Kamon has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Girardi was a prominent figure in the U.S. plaintiffs' bar until allegations of defrauding clients upended his career and led to him losing his license to practice law in 2020. He is the estranged husband of Erika Jayne Girardi, who starred on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Prosecutors in a separate criminal case in Chicago have accused Tom Girardi, Kamon and Girardi's son-in-law, David Lira, who worked at Girardi Keith, of embezzling more than $3 million in client funds that were meant to be paid to families of victims of the 2018 crash of Lion Air Flight 610, a Boeing 737 Max, in Indonesia.
Girardi, Cammon and Lira have pleaded not guilty to the charges in Chicago.
US District Judge Josephine Staton, who presided over the Los Angeles trial, The verdict was given Earlier this year, Mr. Girardi was found competent to stand trial despite his lawyers' claims that he had dementia. Mr. Girardi's Chicago lawyers argue that Judge Staton's competency determination is not binding in the Illinois case.
