7 days ago
Tom Girardi, Former High-Profile Lawyer, Gets 7 Years in Prison for Embezzlement
Tom Girardi, a former high-profile trial lawyer known for winning a record settlement for the environmental activist Erin Brockovich, was sentenced on Tuesday to more than seven years in prison for embezzling tens of millions of dollars of his clients' settlement money.
In addition to receiving an 87-month prison term, Mr. Girardi, 86, of Seal Beach, Calif., who was convicted in August of four counts of wire fraud, was ordered by Judge Josephine L. Staton of U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to pay more than $2.3 million in fines and restitution. He must surrender to federal authorities no later than July 17.
Mr. Girardi's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday afternoon.
Mr. Girardi, who also appeared with his wife, Erika Jayne, on the reality television series 'The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,' earned a reputation for being one of the country's best 'toxic tort' lawyers, taking on personal injury lawsuits against large corporations for damages arising from exposure to chemicals and pollutants. He was part of Ms. Brockovich's legal team when she went after Pacific Gas and Electric in 1993, a case that later inspired the 2000 film that bears her name.
But in recent years, Mr. Girardi's reputation fell into disrepute as he devised what prosecutors described as 'a cunning fraud scheme against the injured clients he had a sworn duty to protect.'
Prosecutors said that from 2010 to 2020, Mr. Girardi operated his Los Angeles law firm, Girardi Keese, 'like a Ponzi scheme' by stealing millions of dollars from settlement funds and failing to pay the firm's clients, some of whom were owed money after suffering serious injuries.
He lied to clients as well as law firm employees, prosecutors said, claiming that settlements had not been paid, or telling clients that the firm could not pay out settlements until 'bogus' requirements had been met. Mr. Girardi would tell clients they had to address tax obligations, settle bankruptcy claims, obtain authorizations from judges or satisfy other debts before the money could be paid, according to prosecutors.
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