A pair of federal grand juries indicted a prominent Southern California legal professional and accused him of stealing hundreds of thousands of {dollars} from scores of sympathetic victims, court docket paperwork revealed Wednesday.
Thomas Girardi, 83, who’s married to “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” forged member Erika Jayne, 51, was hit with a 12-count indictment in U.S. District Courtroom in Chicago.
Girardi’s regulation associate Christopher Kamon and David Lira, the pinnacle of the agency’s accounting and finance division, have been additionally charged with 12 prison counts.
9 counts allege wire fraud and three allege misconduct by court docket officers, stemming from allegations that the defendants didn’t distribute cash owed to their clients.
The fees in Chicago are related to the agency’s dealings with 5 clients, who misplaced family members within the Lion Air crash that killed 189 individuals in 2018.
The agency had secured a $11 million settlement for 4 clients and a $1.55 million deal for a fifth, in line with the indictment.
The defendants used a lot of the cash to pay agency bills, together with payroll, costs on an American Categorical card and distributions to different clients “whose personal settlement funds beforehand had been misappropriated” by the defendants, the indictment alleges.
A grand jury within the Central District of California charged Girardi and Kamon with 5 counts every of wire fraud, alleging they siphoned huge quantities of cash from 5 extremely sympathetic clients:
- The defendants secured a $53 million settlement for a San Bruno, California, consumer, who was severely injured in a pure gasoline explosion. However Girardi is alleged to have instructed the consumer that the settlement was for under $7.25 million.
- A Havasu Metropolis, Arizona, consumer’s husband was killed in a boating accident, and Girardi is alleged to have used half of a $504,000 settlement “to make funds to 2 unique nation golf equipment.”
- The defendants helped a Los Angeles resident and the consumer’s son, who was paralyzed automobile crash, safe a $17.5 million settlement. However the defendants paid solely half of that whole to clients and falsely claimed that tax points, nonexistent court docket proceedings and previous medical payments have been slowing distribution, in line with the indictment.
U.S. Lawyer Martin Estrada, who runs federal prosecutions out of the Los Angeles-based Central District of California, mentioned the defendants focused susceptible clients who invested nice belief of their attorneys.
“Mr. Girardi and Mr. Kamon stand accused of partaking in a widespread scheme to steal from their clients and mislead them to cowl up the fraud,” Estrada mentioned in assertion.
“In doing so, they allegedly preyed on the very individuals who trusted and relied upon them essentially the most — their clients. Actions like those alleged within the indictment convey disrepute upon the authorized career and won’t be tolerated by my workplace.”
The authorized drama involving Girardi and his spouse performed out on the hit Bravo actuality present.
One story line of the previous season intently adopted a pair of diamond earrings prized by Girardi’s spouse, which some of her fellow “Housewives” believed she ought to give up to fraud victims.
Even earlier than his tangential function on “Housewives,” Girardi was one of the best-known and most revered attorneys in Southern California.
“Thomas Vincent Girardi ought to have been a pillar to our neighborhood. As an alternative, he’s accused of creating an elaborate scheme to mislead his clients, victimizing them for a second time,” Tyler Hatcher, the particular agent in cost of the IRS Legal Investigation’s Los Angeles subject workplace, mentioned in an announcement.
Girardi is predicted to give up to authorities on Monday, two regulation enforcement sources accustomed to the investigation mentioned. Girardi’s legal professional couldn’t be instantly reached for touch upon Wednesday.
