Former “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Tom Girardi, a disbarred attorney, was convicted of embezzling $15 million from his clients, including $3 million from family members of the victims of a plane crash. The jury found him guilty on four wire fraud charges after a 13-day trial in Los Angeles. He is scheduled to be sentenced on December 6. Girardi allegedly misappropriated funds from trust accounts for clients with severe injuries and used his role as a high-profile attorney to steal money.
Girardi’s public defender plans to place the blame on his former chief financial officer, who is being tried separately. One of the firm’s accounting employees testified that Girardi appeared to be in cognitive decline by late 2020. Authorities have frozen Girardi’s assets, and he has been residing in an assisted living facility. Despite claiming to have Alzheimer’s disease, a judge ruled he was competent to stand trial. Girardi is widely known for his role in the lawsuit against Pacific Gas and Electric Company that inspired the film “Erin Brockovich.”
Girardi’s wife, Erika Jayne, is also a star on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” The couple are separated, and Jayne filed for divorce in 2020. She has denied knowledge of Girardi’s embezzlement and was dismissed from a lawsuit alleging otherwise. Jayne has struggled to be granted a divorce due to Girardi’s mental decline. She has apologized to the victims in a documentary but has not been criminally charged in relation to the case.
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