Tom Girardi has been found guilty of embezzling more than $15 million from clients of his now-defunct law firm, Girardi & Keese.
After less than a full day of deliberations, a federal jury presented its verdict at a downtown Los Angeles courthouse Tuesday.
The former attorney and estranged husband of “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne was found guilty on all four counts of wire fraud, which each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Girardi was disbarred in July 2022 and indicted the following February.
During the weeks-long trial, federal prosecutors told the jury that the once-revered lawyer ran a decade-long Ponzi scheme by misappropriating millions of dollars of his clients’ settlements.
They said Girardi, 85, would use the money to pay back other clients and fund a luxurious life for himself and Jayne, 53.
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His federal public defenders, however, insisted the firm’s chief financial officer and Girardi’s co-defendant, Chris Kamon, was to blame for the missing and misappropriated money.
They claimed Girardi – who was diagnosed with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in March 2021 – was incompetent and used as a pawn.
However, Girardi was found fit to stand trial and took the stand last week to emphatically deny any wrongdoing.
“The last thing I would do would be to take someone’s money,” he testified. “I wouldn’t think of it.”
Girardi insisted he “didn’t intentionally ever tell anyone the wrong thing” and claimed Kamon “was very clever in stealing millions of dollars.”
He also repeated several times during his testimony that he never gave himself a salary.
Girardi faces another trial in Chicago next year.
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