LOS ANGELES
A jury on Tuesday found disbarred plaintiffs’ personal injury lawyer Thomas Vincent Girardi guilty of orchestrating a years-long fraud scheme.
Girardi embezzled tens of millions of dollars from his clients, some of whom were awaiting payment for treatment of serious physical injuries.
Girardi, 85, of Seal Beach, was found guilty of four counts of wire fraud.
U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton scheduled a Dec. 6 sentencing hearing. Girardi faces up to 20 years in federal prison for each count.
“Tom Girardi built celebrity status and lured in victims by falsely portraying himself as a ‘Champion of Justice,’” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “In reality, he was a Robin-Hood-in-reverse, stealing from the needy to support of a lavish, Hollywood lifestyle. Today’s verdict shows that the game is up – we can all now see this defendant for what he was and the victims he callously betrayed.”
“Mr. Girardi exploited his clients’ misfortunes on a grand scale,” said Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher, IRS Criminal Investigation, Los Angeles Field Office. “His clients sought his help in the wake of significant trauma and injury, yet he violated their trust to steal from them and fund his own lavish lifestyle, and he will now face the consequences of his actions.”
“Mr. Girardi was retained to advocate for clients who put their trust in him, but instead, lied to them and stole their money to fund his lavish lifestyle,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “Girardi falsely promoted himself in the media as a pillar of the legal community with a heightened sense of justice, but the clients he wronged for many years have now found actual justice in today’s verdict.”
According to evidence presented at a 13-day trial, Girardi, a once-powerful figure in California’s legal community, ran the now-defunct law firm Girardi Keese.
Girardi misappropriated and embezzled millions of dollars from client trust accounts at his law firm for years.
The scheme involved defendant Girardi stealing millions of dollars in client settlement funds and failing to pay Girardi Keese clients—some of whom had suffered serious injuries in accidents—the money they were owed.
In carrying out this scheme, from October 2010 to late 2020, Girardi provided a litany of lies for failure to pay clients and directed a law firm employee to pay previously defrauded clients or other unrelated expenditures.
Girardi sent lulling communications to the clients that, among other things, falsely denied that the settlement proceeds had been paid and falsely claimed that Girardi Keese could not pay the settlement proceeds to clients until certain purported requirements had been met.
These bogus requirements included addressing supposed tax obligations, settling bankruptcy claims, obtaining supposedly necessary authorizations from judges, and satisfying other debts.
Girardi diverted tens of millions of dollars from his law firm’s operating account to pay unauthorized expenses, including more than $25 million to cover the costs of EJ Global, a company his wife founded in connection with her career in entertainment, as well as millions of dollars of Girardi Keese funds on private jet travel, jewelry, expensive cars, and exclusive golf and social clubs.
At the end of 2020, as Girardi and his law firm faced mounting legal problems related to his years-long theft of client funds, Girardi Keese was forced into involuntary bankruptcy.
The State Bar of California disbarred Girardi in July 2022.
Relatedly, co-defendant Christopher Kazuo Kamon, 50, formerly of Encino and Palos Verdes and residing in The Bahamas at the time of his November 2022 arrest on a federal criminal complaint, awaits trial in January 2025.
Kamon, the former chief financial officer at Girardi Keese, is charged with multiple fraud counts for allegedly aiding and abetting Girardi’s scheme to defraud clients.
Kamon allegedly also embezzled millions of dollars from the law firm’s accounts for his own personal enrichment.
He remains in federal custody and has pleaded not guilty to these charges.
Girardi, Kamon, and David R. Lira, Girardi’s son-in-law and a former lawyer at Girardi Keese, also face federal fraud charges in Chicago.
The trial in that case is scheduled for March 3. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI investigated this matter. The Office of the U.S. Trustee provided assistance.
Assistant United States Attorneys Scott Paetty and Ali Moghaddas of the Major Frauds Section are prosecuting this case.