Palos Verdes Man Indicted With Disgraced Attorney Tom Girardi

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Once the most influential name in trail law, Los Angeles attorney Tom Girardi was indicted by a U.S. grand jury on fraud charges for allegedly embezzling more than $15 million of funds from clients, according court documents released Wednesday. Also charged in the indictment unsealed Wednesday was the firm's former chief financial officer Christopher Kamon, 49, formerly of Palos Verdes.

The indictment comes after years of fraud allegations and a public divorce from "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Erika Jayne. U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada declined to comment on whether Jayne is being investigated as part of the ongoing probe into the Girardi Keese firm.

The indictment caps a spectacular fall for one of the winningest trial attorneys of his era and a member of the California State Bar's Hall of Fame.

In Los Angeles, Girardi was indicted on five counts of wire fraud, according to the indictment. The 83-year-old is accused of defrauding clients and misappropriating funds as far back as 2010, according to the indictment. Girardi and Kamon, "knowingly and with intent to defraud, devised, participated in, and executed a scheme to defraud victim clients to whom defendant [Girardi] and Girardi Keese had agreed to provide legal services," prosecutors allege.

Girardi would negotiate a settlement on behalf of his client but would conceal and falsely describe the terms, according to federal prosecutors. Money would be directed to attorney trust accounts, from which he would misappropriate the settlements for personal expenses and his firm's payroll, prosecutors claimed in the indictment.

Estrada said the defendants engaged in a "widespread scheme to steal from their clients and lie to them to cover up the fraud. In doing so, they allegedly preyed on the very people who trusted and relied upon them the most — their clients."

Attempts to reach a representative for Girardi were unsuccessful. Kamon's attorney did not immediately return a call requesting comment.

Kamon, the first person to face criminal charges in the scandal, pleaded not guilty last week in Los Angeles to a federal wire fraud charge separate from the charges announced Wednesday. Prosecutors allege he funneled more than $10 million from the law firm's operating accounts for his personal use.

Kamon spent millions on home renovations, exotic cars, and "female escorts," federal prosecutors allege.

Kamon was arrested on the charge in November at Baltimore airport after arriving on a flight from the Bahamas, where he had purchased a $2.4 million home, court papers show.

He remains in federal custody after his attorneys unsuccessfully argued for his release at several hearings. If convicted, he faces up to 14 years in prison, authorities said.

A magistrate judge set a March 14 jury trial before U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton in downtown Los Angeles.

An affidavit filed in the Kamon criminal case says Girardi wasn't aware of Kamon's alleged $10 million "side scheme."

Girardi became widely known when he was thanked in the credits of the 2001 Oscar-winning film "Erin Brockovich," for which he served as an adviser. The attorney was part of the legal team when Brockovich successfully sued Pacific Gas & Electric in 1993 for contaminating the groundwater of a small California town.

Estrada said that behind a public persona of integrity, for which he received numerous awards and commendations, Girardi was "robbing and stealing from those people he claimed to be championing" and "committing fraud on a grand scale."

After he was disbarred last year, the State Bar of California said it had received 205 complaints against Girardi alleging he misappropriated settlement money, abandoned clients and committed other serious ethical violations over the course of his four-decade career.

Girardi was also charged with eight counts of wire fraud and four counts of contempt of court in Chicago, the Los Angeles Times reported. Prosecutors in Chicago allege Girardi misappropriated at least $3 million from clients related to an Indonesian plane crash, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"The substantial misappropriation alleged in this indictment compounded the grief and anguish of the clients who lost loved ones in the Lion Air crash," John Lausch, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said in a statement. "Attorneys who violate the trust of their clients and breach a fiduciary duty that is paramount to the practice of law must be held accountable."

Girardi was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in March 2021 and now lives in a memory care facility in Orange County. His younger brother has control of all medical and financial decision-making as Girardi is in a court-ordered conservatorship, the Los Angeles Times reported.

City News Service contributed to this report.