The jury delivered its verdict Tuesday morning in the trial of Tom Girardi, the once-influential Los Angeles attorney accused of running a decade-long pyramid scheme that bilked his clients out of millions of dollars in settlement money.
Girardi, 85, was convicted of four counts of wire fraud for siphoning off at least $15 million from four of his clients, some of whom suffered serious bodily harm or lost loved ones as part of their cases. During his trial, prosecutors argued that he spent the stolen money on private jets and jewelry, and maintained a lavish lifestyle that included a sprawling Pasadena estate that was depicted on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” the reality show starring his now-estranged wife, Erika Girardi, a pop singer who performs as Erika Jayne.
In 2021, the allegations against the former personal injury attorney were the focus of the Hulu documentary series “The Housewife and the Hustler.” He was disbarred in 2022.
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, Archive
“Tom Girardi built celebrity status and lured victims by falsely portraying himself as a ‘Champion of Justice,'” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement announcing Girardi’s sentencing. “In reality, he was a reverse Robin Hood, stealing from the needy to support a lavish Hollywood lifestyle.”
Federal prosecutors allege he embezzled millions from his clients between October 2010 and late 2020. Among the victims Girardi stoleprosecutors say, were families of victims of the October 2018 Lion Air Flight crash that killed 189 people. That tragic crash was the first of two involving Boeing 737 Max 8 jets in a period of just five months.
Prosecutors said Girardi’s company faced increasingly serious financial problems in late 2020, eventually pushing him into bankruptcy.
Girardi has long denied the claims. The federal public defender representing him, Charles Snyder, has argued that Girardi’s cognitive impairment worsened after diagnoses of dementia and late-onset Alzheimer’s. Snyder also said members of Girardi’s now-shuttered law firm, Girardi Keese, stole money “hand over fist.”
Snyder said that “Girardi wasn’t paying attention” to the company’s operations because he was “getting old, getting sick and losing his mind.”
However, federal prosecutors have alleged that Girardi intentionally defrauded his clients.
“He wanted the outside world to believe that he was standing up for people who couldn’t help themselves,” Assistant District Attorney Ali Moghaddas said during his plea Monday.
But those customers kept waiting for the money to come in, and from that point on, “days turned into months and months turned into years,” Moghaddas said.
On Tuesday, Estrada said Girardi could face up to 80 years in prison at his sentencing on Dec. 6, but the court will consider a number of factors. Girardi currently lives in a nursing home in Orange County.
“We’re not going to prejudge that,” Estrada said. “We’ll look at all the facts as they come in.”
However, Estrada also said the possibility of a prison sentence has not been ruled out.
“But the simple fact that he is older, an older adult, does not mean that we will not seek a prison sentence,” he said.
‘Self-portrait as the champion for the little man’
In 1996, Girardi was one of the attorneys representing the small San Bernardino County desert community of Hinkley in a lawsuit against energy giant Pacific Gas & Electric over water contamination. The chemical chromium was said to be responsible for the development of cancer and other diseases in residents.
Pacific Gas & Electric agreed to a $333 million settlement for hundreds of plaintiffs, and the case was made famous by the 2000 film “Erin Brockovich” starring Julia Roberts. At the time of the settlement, the Los Angeles Times reported that Girardi had hailed it as “a great moment in the history of righting wrongs.”
The personal injury attorney went on to secure millions of dollars in settlements in other high-profile cases, building a reputation as an LA legal expert.
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“Mr. Girardi portrayed himself as a champion for the little guy,” Estrada told reporters at a news conference after the guilty verdict. “He marketed himself as Erin Brockovich’s lawyer.”
Estrada said the now-disbarred attorney had “built an image as a lawyer who fought corporate greed.” But that reputation came into question with the 2021 airing of “The Housewife and the Hustler,” which highlighted claims against him by clients including families of victims of the 2018 Lion Air crash. They alleged that Girardi and two of his colleagues at his now-defunct firm stole more than $3 million in settlement money from them.
Last year, Girardi was indicted on federal charges in connection with with those accusations.
“The significant embezzlement alleged in this indictment has only increased the grief and anguish of clients who lost loved ones in the Lion Air crash,” U.S. Attorney John Lausch said at the time.
A lavish lifestyle seen on “Real Housewives”
When Lion Air victims began asking Girardi where the money was in May 2020, he tried to stop themaccording to the indictment filed last year by federal prosecutors. At the time, prosecutors say, he told a client in a letter, “I think you’re going to love me in 30 days.”
Months later, in December of that year, an attorney representing the Lion Air victims met with Girardi, Jay Edelson has sued himHe said in court papers that Girardi had revictimized the people he represented in the wrongful death lawsuit.
“You have this kind of celebrity lawyer with his celebrity wife who just spends it on who-knows-what. It’s really hard to process,” Edelson said.
Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Homeless Not Toothless
The following year, “The Housewife and the Hustler” aired in the summer of 2021, shedding light on the allegations against Girardi. By then, prosecutors say, Girardi was already struggling with legal troubles related to a decade of stealing from clients and had been forced into bankruptcy and disbarred.
The allegations against him quickly surfaced on the reality TV show that stars his now-estranged wife. Erika Jayne — whose pop music career, prosecutors say, was funded by money Girardi took from clients — joins co-stars on Bravo TV’s “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” to flaunt designer clothes, jewelry, sports cars and mansions.
She eventually filed for divorce from Girardi.
“Of course he had a very luxurious lifestyle,” Estrada said Tuesday. “You only have to watch a little bit of television to see how luxurious he lived.”
Just two months after the documentary was released, Girardi auctioned off valuable possessions from his Wilshire Boulevard law office, including a championship ring from the Los Angeles Lakersmore than 100 bottles of wine and a framed receipt from the $1 million settlement in the 1996 Hinkley water lawsuit.
In January, a federal judge ruled that Girardi was competent to stand trial. After a 13-day trial, jurors found him guilty of four counts of wire fraud, each of which carries a potential maximum sentence of 20 years, according to prosecutors.
