Tom Girardi – disgraced legal titan, former ‘Real Housewives’ husband – sentenced to 7 years in prison
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The spectacular fall of Tom Girardi, a California power broker who was one of the nation’s most formidable trial attorneys and flaunted his wealth on “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” reached its conclusion Tuesday when a judge sentenced him to seven years in prison for stealing from clients.
U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton issued the sentence in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom not far from the scenes of Girardi’s erstwhile influence: the state courthouse where he wrested nine-figure judgments from corporations on behalf of “little guy” clients; the Palm restaurant where he treated investigators from the State Bar of California to wine-soaked lunches; and the private Jonathan Club, where lawyers hoping to become judges groveled for his approval.
The judge noted that when Girardi’s clients — often terribly injured or grieving the loss of a loved one — asked for the money due them, he put them off by invoking his elite connections to judges.
“He made [the clients] feel that the entire legal system was on his side,” Staton said, adding that given Girardi’s force in the judicial system, their view was “not wrong.”
Prosecutors say Robert Finnerty negotiated a $53-million settlement with PG&E without his clients’ knowledge or approval.
The truth was their settlements were being used to underwrite a lifestyle of what the judge described as “private jets and country clubs” for himself and his wife, “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne.
Staton said Girardi had done untold damage to the legal profession by exploiting people who had gone to him seeking justice “at the lowest point in their lives.”
Girardi, who turned 86 Tuesday, was convicted of wire fraud last year, after the 2020 collapse of his Wilshire Boulevard law firm, Girardi Keese. The trial concerned about $2 million misappropriated from four settlements, but prosecutors have alleged that he committed much more extensive fraud, with as much as $100 million siphoned from client accounts.
Following reporting by The Times, the State Bar acknowledged receiving more than 200 complaints against Girardi dating to the 1980s. None of the complaints led to disciplinary action until after his firm collapsed. During this period, Girardi maintained friendly relationships with high-ranking judges, including justices of the state Supreme Court, and he showered State Bar employees with cash, jobs for their children, trips on his private plane and free legal representation.
The State Bar has since instituted measures to prevent corruption. Lawyers must now disclose details of the bank accounts where they hold client money, and the State Bar issued a new rule that requires lawyers to report peers for suspected misconduct.
Whether others at Girardi’s firm face charges is unclear. The Times reported last year that several former lawyers at his firm received letters informing them they were targets of a criminal investigation.
Asked outside the courtroom whether additional individuals might face prosecution, U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli said, “We are looking into anyone and everyone, but there are potential statute of limitations issues with some of the cases.”
Girardi was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease five years ago, though the level of his impairment has been a hotly disputed issue in court proceedings, with prosecutors suggesting he was malingering. At Tuesday’s sentencing, Girardi stared blankly at the judge as she read a litany of his misdeeds.
When given a chance to address the court, he blamed poor accounting for clients not getting their money, said the situation was corrected and insisted he had not profited personally.
Christopher Kamon was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in stealing millions of dollars from Tom Girardi’s clients.
“I think it’s clear there was some negligence involved, but everybody got everything they were supposed to get. That’s the important thing,” he said.
But a prosecutor dismissed the statement as just the most recent in a string of falsehoods.
“We are here today because of Tom Girardi’s lies,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Scott Paetty, who had sought a 14-year sentence. He pointed to one Girardi client, Joseph Ruigomez, who suffered burns over 90% of his body in a 2010 gas line explosion in San Bruno, Calif. Girardi told Ruigomez that he had secured him a $7-million payout from PG&E. The real settlement amount was $53 million.
In a victim impact statement delivered at a lectern a few feet from Girardi, Ruigomez said being preyed on by a lawyer who was “supposed to be a beacon of hope” was “a nightmare” that lasted for years. Another victim, Josie Hernandez, said she had been driven into bankruptcy by Girardi’s failure to pay her a settlement with a medical device company. She said internet memes and clips of Girardi’s estranged wife portraying herself on “Real Housewives” as a victim of his scheme “have been excruciating to deal with.”
At the height of his career, Girardi was an associate of governors, advising Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown on judicial picks. A self-described “limousine liberal,” he donated millions of dollars to Democratic candidates and hosted a 2019 fundraiser at the Jonathan Club for Joe Biden in his first race against Donald Trump.
No one from those circles has supported Girardi publicly since his arrest, and Staton said she was struck that none of the thousands of “little guy” clients Girardi represented wrote letters on his behalf.
Staton ordered Girard to report to prison by July 17. She rejected a proposal from his attorneys that he be allowed to serve any sentence in the locked Alzheimer’s care unit at the Seal Beach nursing home where he has lived for several years.
Defense attorney Samuel Cross told the judge that, given Girardi’s dementia and other health problems, any term behind bars would probably amount to a life sentence.
Girardi was taken by ambulance Wednesday morning from an Orange County nursing home, and he was admitted in the afternoon due to “liver dysfunction,” according to a court filing from his attorneys.
“Should Tom Girardi die in prison?” he asked repeatedly in remarks to the judge. Cross said Girardi has no short-term memory to speak of. He described Girardi’s mind as “frozen in amber 30 years ago” when he was a successful lawyer residing in a palatial Pasadena mansion.
“If he’s in prison, he will not understand why,” Cross said.
Staton said she was not moved by what she called his “cognitive decline,” saying his advanced age and various maladies actually made his imprisonment less harsh than it might have been when he was at the zenith of his power.
“This is not a greater punishment because he is old. It is lesser because he gives up less,” the judge said.
Girardi’s attorneys, from the federal public defender’s office, said in court that he plans to appeal his conviction.
Times staff writer Matt Hamilton contributed to this report.
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