Six weeks before Tom Girardi’s criminal trial in Los Angeles is scheduled to begin, federal prosecutors have revealed they plan to present key evidence: The disgraced former lawyer allegedly spent more than $25 million during his reality TV career. Clients and Law Firm Funding Celebrity Wife.
So far, Erika Girardi — a mainstay on Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” — has received little mention in her estranged husband’s federal indictment. Tom Girardi — once a superstar lawyer and influential Democratic donor — and his law firm’s former chief financial officer are accused of stealing money from multiple clients in a years-long scheme. $15 million was stolen from customers.
In court documents filed Friday, prosecutors said they plan to present evidence to jurors that Tom Girardi embezzled far more money than his law firm, Girardi Keese ) and his clients, including $25 million they accuse him of misappropriating to pay for “illegal expenses” EJ Global LLC, a company he formed for his wife’s entertainment career.
“By instructing Girardi Keese’s accountants to make these payments for the benefit of EJ Global, the defendants [Tom] “Girardi knowingly and willfully used monies derived from client funds for the improper personal enrichment of members of his family,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
The documents do not contain any potential evidence, and it is unclear how prosecutors plan to prove their claims. They did not name Erica Girardi and did not accuse her of wrongdoing or knowledge of her husband’s financial conduct.
Instead, prosecutors hope to counter Tom Girardi’s defense strategy of accusing the chief financial officer of making the case that Girardi also misappropriated money for his wife and her career.
Erika Girardi’s attorney, Evan Borges, stressed that prosecutors are not saying the “Housewives” star committed any wrongdoing, and there is no doubt that Tom Gee Tom Girardi and his companies are responsible for the financial and accounting affairs of EJ Global LLC.
“She had no knowledge of the conduct of Tom Girardi or Girardi Keith regarding client matters or finances,” Borges said. She noted that a judge had dismissed the lawsuit against her because of “zero evidence.” ” showing her involvement in client affairs.
“A few years ago, Erica filed for divorce and separated from Tom Girardi, living in a rental house,” Borges said in a statement. “She has the right to move on with her life.”
Prosecutors want to present evidence related to Erica Girardi’s company, EJ Global, in light of revelations made by Tom Girardi’s attorneys during Thursday’s hearing. Deputy Public Defender Charles Snyder said at the hearing that the defense was targeting the law firm’s treasurer, Christopher Carmon.
Snyder said his client was not the person “running the machine” — it was Carmon, who oversaw the company’s accounting department and 127 bank accounts.
In a separate federal indictment, Carmon is accused of engaging in “collateral fraud” in which he used fake vendors to embezzle millions of dollars from a law firm and then spent the funds on home renovations, exotic properties, and more, according to court documents. Cars and “Female Escorts”. Carmon has pleaded not guilty in both cases and faces a second trial in October on so-called collateral fraud charges.
Girardi’s legal team plans to argue what the treasurer calls “collateral fraud” as the reason for the massive deficit in Girardiki’s account.
Additionally, they plan to argue that Girardi was liquidating his personal assets and plowing those funds back into the company for payroll and expenses to offset funds depleted by Carmon’s alleged scheme.
Snyder said in court Thursday that Girardi lied to clients about where the settlement money was going — what prosecutors called “pacification communications” meant to thwart them — not to deceive the victims but to get them to Girardi took it upon himself to find out the truth about himself.
Carmon’s attorney, Michael Severo, poured cold water on the narrative: “It’s just fiction,” he told the court.
Girardi’s attorneys have suggested they shift blame to Carmon, and prosecutors wrote in the filing that evidence of misappropriation of funds to pay EJ Global’s bills was “critical” to telling a “coherent and complete story of the alleged scheme.”
“Excluding this evidence would only distort the facts and lead the jury to believe that only defendant Carmon was responsible for this misappropriation, when in fact defendant Girardi himself also embezzled tens of millions of dollars,” prosecutors wrote. “
Girardi and Carmon are scheduled to appear in court together on Aug. 6.
That said, Girardi’s attorneys believe everyone blames the other. They plan to argue Carmon wanted to trick and deceive his boss and take advantage of an elderly man facing cognitive decline. They also predicted Carmon would claim he was “forced” to act on Girardi’s orders, according to court documents.
Whether to try the two men separately or allow evidence of improper payments to Erica Girardi’s LLC will be decided by U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton, who previously ruled that Girardi was competent to stand trial.
Staton will also rule on a motion filed late Friday by Tom Girardi’s law firm asking a judge to suppress evidence provided to prosecutors by the bankruptcy trustee overseeing Girardi’s law firm, saying that from A search warrant was not sought to obtain the company’s internal documents, records state.
Girardi’s lawyers argued that the 85-year-old, who lives in the nursing home’s dementia unit, has no short-term memory, does not recognize them and does not remember the criminal case against him.
But Staton said in a ruling earlier this year that Girardi “clearly understood the nature of the charges” against him.
Girardi was once a leading figure in the American legal profession, winning billions of dollars in settlements for his clients during a career that spanned five decades. A landmark payout from PG&E to the Hinckley, Calif., resident and a subsequent appearance in the movie “Erin Brockovich” helped boost Girardi’s public standing. But he has long been an insider in California politics, raising money for the governor, senators and local Democratic politicians.
His company collapsed in late 2020 after evidence emerged that he embezzled millions of dollars in settlements paid by Boeing to widows and orphans of Indonesian plane crashes. The money never reached Girardi’s family, prompting a federal judge in Chicago to freeze Girardi’s assets and turn him over to criminal investigation.
Girardi and his company were forced into bankruptcy, and since then, many former clients have come forward claiming they didn’t receive all or part of their settlements.
Girardi, his son-in-law David Lira, and Carmon also face federal criminal charges in Chicago for embezzling $3 million from Indonesian plane crash victims.
A trial is planned for 2025 in Chicago.
