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Tom Girardi of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is headed to prison after being convicted last year of multiple counts of wire fraud.
On Tuesday, June 3, federal judge Josephine L. Staton sentenced the disbarred lawyer to more than seven years in prison. He was also ordered to pay a $35,000 fine and $2.3 million in restitution.
Tom Girardi swindled millions from vulnerable clients
“This self-proclaimed ‘champion of justice’ was nothing more than a thief and a liar who conned his vulnerable clients out of the millions of dollars,” said United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “My office will vigorously prosecute corrupt lawyers and those who assist them in criminal activities.”
Girardi, 86, was found guilty in August 2024 of swindling $15 million from his clients. For roughly a decade, the powerful and successful personal injury attorney misappropriated and embezzled funds from his clients’ trust accounts. Those accounts contained money his clients had been awarded in settlements, often following serious and life-changing accidents. He also took money from the operating account of his law firm, Girardi Keese, and used it to pay for private jets, luxury cars, exclusive golf and social clubs, and other expenses. In an attempt to hide his crimes, Girardi ran his law firm “like a Ponzi scheme,” using money from new settlements to make payments to other clients, according to the Department of Justice.
Some of the money Girardi stole went to EJ Global, a company founded by his then-wife Erika Girardi to further her entertainment career. Girardi – aka Erika Jayne – has been part of the RHOBH cast since 2016. She and Girardi separated in 2020 after 20 years of marriage, and their divorce is ongoing. She has not been charged with any crime and maintains she knew nothing about her husband’s actions.
Ex-‘RHOBH’ personality is suffering from dementia
Girardi Keese CFO Christopher Kazuo Kamon helped Girardi carry out his scam, in addition to embezzling funds for his own benefit. He pleaded guilty in October 2024 to two counts of wire fraud. In April, he was sentenced to 121 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $9 million in restitution.
Before his downfall (and his stint on Bravo), Girardi rose to fame after taking on Pacific Gas and Electric in the massive class-action lawsuit that inspired the Oscar-winning movie Erin Brockovich.
Girardi was ordered to report to prison on July 17. He is currently living in the secure memory care section of an assisted living facility in Orange County after being diagnosed with dementia in 2021. On Monday, Girardi’s lawyer asked the judge to allow his client to remain in that facility, but she ruled that he would receive adequate care in federal prison.
In a 2023 episode of RHOBH, Erika said she still spoke to her ex, though she admitted his memory was a serious issue.
“When Tom calls, sometimes he’s super-present, and sometimes he thinks I’m someone else,” she said. “Nothing about these conversations are good other than I know that he’s in a safe place … It doesn’t get better. It only gets worse from here.”
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