Former LA Power Attorney Tom Girardi Charged In $15 Million Embezzlement Scheme
Topline:
Disbarred lawyer Tom Girardi, 83, allegedly embezzled more than $15 million from his clients between 2010 and 2020. Girardi was a high-profile figure whose cases include the one that inspired the film Erin Brockovich, and is the estranged spouse of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reality TV star Erika Jayne, who filed for divorce in 2020.
Why it matters: Girardi owned downtown L.A. law firm Girardi Keese. In grand jury charges filed in Los Angeles on Wednesday, the Department of Justice describes Girardi as “a once-powerful figure in California’s legal community until creditors forced his law firm into bankruptcy in December 2020.” He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2021 and had been placed in a conservatorship — he was reportedly living in a memory care unit at an assisted living facility as of last year.
The allegations: Girardi Keese’s chief financial officer from 2004–2020, Christopher Kazoo Kamon, 49, was also charged Wednesday. He was arrested in November while living in the Bahamas. Girardi and Kamon also face separate charges in Illinois announced Wednesday, alongside another Girardi Keese lawyer, David R. Lira.
Girardi allegedly negotiated settlements but concealed the actual terms of those settlements from his clients. The proceeds would be put into his attorney trust accounts, which Girardi and Kamon would then allegedly embezzle and misappropriate funds from. This included using the money to pay other clients whose settlements had already been used by the law firm, to pay staff, and for Girardi and Kamon’s personal expenses.
What’s next: The maximum sentence Girardi faces for the California charges is 20 years in federal prison. He’s scheduled to appear for arraignment on Feb. 6.
Read the indictment:
-
After San Gabriel's city council rejected the proposal as "too narrow", one city councilmember argued the entire DEI commission, created in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder, had "run its course."
-
A medical industry challenge to a $25 minimum wage ordinance in one Southern California city suggests health workers statewide could face layoffs and reductions in hours and benefits under a state law set to begin phasing in in June. Some experts are skeptical, however, that it will have such effects.
-
Sandhill cranes are returning to the Lake Tahoe basin after a century long hiatus in what many say is a conservation success story.
-
The Dodgers fired Mizuhara in March after Ohtani's lawyers accused him of stealing millions of dollars from the baseball player to place bets with an Orange County-based bookie.
-
Jackie’s partner, Shadow, refuses to abandon their unviable eggs, despite her attempts to nudge him along.
-
Big Sur's Highway 1 was built to maximize the breathtaking views of the cliffs and ocean at the cost of the road's longterm stability.