{"id":60522,"date":"2026-03-05T18:18:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T02:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=60522"},"modified":"2026-03-05T18:21:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T02:21:06","slug":"california-attorney-pleads-guilty-to-contempt-over-lion-air-settlement-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=60522","title":{"rendered":"California Attorney Guilty of Stealing Settlement Money for Families of Victims of 2018 Airline Crash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"103\" data-end=\"326\"><span style=\"font-size: 23px;\"><strong>CHICAGO\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"103\" data-end=\"326\"><span style=\"font-size: 23px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-22946 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Courtroom-300x169.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"405\" height=\"228\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Courtroom-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Courtroom.png 650w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 405px) 100vw, 405px\" \/>A California attorney pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago to criminal contempt for failing to ensure settlement funds were distributed to families of victims killed in the 2018 crash of Lion Air Flight 610, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"328\" data-end=\"515\"><span style=\"font-size: 23px;\">Keith Griffin, 54, of Temple City, California, entered the plea before U.S. District Judge LaShonda A. Hunt in the Northern District of Illinois. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 6, 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"517\" data-end=\"717\"><span style=\"font-size: 23px;\">Griffin worked for the now-defunct personal injury firm Girardi Keese, which represented victims\u2019 relatives in lawsuits against Boeing Co., the aircraft\u2019s manufacturer. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"517\" data-end=\"717\"><span style=\"font-size: 23px;\">The cases were settled in 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"719\" data-end=\"928\"><span style=\"font-size: 23px;\">U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin ordered that $7.5 million in settlement funds be distributed to the clients as soon as practicable. Boeing wired the funds to the firm\u2019s client trust account in March 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"930\" data-end=\"1125\"><span style=\"font-size: 23px;\">In a plea agreement, Griffin admitted he knew for eight months that the firm had failed to distribute the full settlement funds, violating the court\u2019s order despite repeated demands from clients.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" title=\"\" data-start=\"1127\" data-end=\"1220\"><span style=\"font-size: 23px;\">The victims ultimately received their money after another law firm\u2019s insurer paid the claims.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHICAGO\u00a0 A California attorney pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago to criminal contempt for failing to ensure settlement funds were distributed to families of victims killed in the 2018 crash of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>California Attorney Guilty of Stealing Settlement Money for Families of Victims of 2018 Airline Crash<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CHICAGO\u00a0 A California attorney pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago to criminal contempt for failing to ensure settlement funds were distributed to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=60522\" 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