Former 'Real Housewives' husband Tom Giardi sentenced to 7 years in prison
Former "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" husband and attorney Tom Girardi was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison for embezzling millions of dollars from former clients.June 4, 2025
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Reuters
2 days ago
- Reuters
Tom Girardi's son-in-law pleads guilty in Chicago case, lawyer says
June 5 (Reuters) - David Lira, the son-in-law of convicted California attorney Tom Girardi and a former member of Girardi's now-defunct law firm, pleaded guilty on Thursday to criminal contempt in connection with Girardi's failure to pay millions of dollars in client settlement funds, his defense lawyer said. Lira pleaded guilty to one criminal contempt charge before U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland in Chicago, his lawyer Damon Cheronis told Reuters. Prosecutors are dropping the remaining charges, and sentencing has been set for October, Cheronis said. Federal prosecutors in Chicago had accused Lira, Girardi and Christopher Kamon, the former chief financial officer of their law firm Girardi Keese, of misappropriating more than $3 million in client funds owed to families of the victims of the 2018 Boeing 737 MAX Lion Air Flight 610 crash in Indonesia. The crash killed all 189 onboard. Lira had initially pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud, criminal contempt, and making false statements to a judge in connection with the Lion Air case. A trial is set for July 2025. "As stated in the plea agreement, Mr. Lira continually asked Mr. Girardi to pay these clients their rightful settlement money pursuant to the court order, however Girardi did not," Cheronis said in a statement. "Mr. Lira was also subject to that court order." Lira's guilty plea comes two days after Girardi was sentenced to more than seven years in prison by a federal judge in Los Angeles after a jury convicted him on similar charges. Cheronis said Lira's plea change were not related to Girardi's sentencing. Cheronis said the plea agreement did not assert any acts of fraud on Lira's part. A spokesperson for the Chicago U.S. Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rowland last month dismissed the Chicago charges against Girardi, after prosecutors sought their dismissal in light of the then-pending California sentencing. Kamon pleaded guilty to counts of wire fraud and was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison in the California case. He has agreed to plead guilty to the Lion Air charges at a hearing in Chicago federal court scheduled for next month.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- The Guardian
Disbarred lawyer Tom Girardi sentenced to seven years for embezzlement
A federal judge sentenced disbarred celebrity lawyer Tom Girardi to seven years and three months in prison on Tuesday for embezzling tens of millions of dollars from his clients, including several with severe physical injuries and families of people killed in accidents. US district judge Josephine L Staton also ordered Girardi, 86, to pay a $35,000 fine and $2.3m in restitution to former clients. A jury in August found him guilty of four counts of wire fraud, and he could have been sentenced to up to 80 years in prison. Girardi is the estranged husband of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne and appeared on the show himself dozens of times between 2015 and 2020. He was once among the most prominent lawyers in the nation, often representing victims of major disasters against powerful companies. One lawsuit against California's Pacific Gas and Electric utility led to a $333m settlement and was portrayed in the 2000 Julia Roberts film Erin Brockovich. But his law empire collapsed, and he was disbarred in California in 2022 over client thefts. Girardi has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and issues with his memory led another court to put him in a conservatorship under his brother. But on Monday, Staton ruled that he was mentally competent to be sentenced, just as she had previously found him mentally competent to stand trial. The judge had allowed him to remain free until his sentencing but ordered him to surrender to authorities by 17 July. An email to Girardi's attorney seeking comment on the conviction was not immediately answered. Former clients who testified against Girardi at his trial included an Arizona woman whose husband was killed in a boat accident and victims who were burned in a 2010 gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, south of San Francisco. Prosecutors played jurors voicemails in which Girardi gave a litany of false reasons money that a court had awarded could not be paid, including tax and debt obligations and judge authorizations. He frequently told them: 'Don't be mad at me.'
NBC News
3 days ago
- NBC News
Former 'Real Housewives' husband Tom Giardi sentenced to 7 years in prison
Former "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" husband and attorney Tom Girardi was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison for embezzling millions of dollars from former 4, 2025
