3 days ago
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.
