Tom Girardi #

Introduction #

Tom Girardi, once one of the most celebrated plaintiff’s lawyers in Los Angeles, was convicted in August 2024 of wire fraud for embezzling settlement money from his own clients, and in June 2025 he was sentenced to seven years and three months in federal prison. The former husband of “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne, Girardi built a reputation as a “champion of justice” in high-profile cases — including one dramatized in the film “Erin Brockovich” — before his law firm collapsed amid accusations that he had been stealing from the people he represented for more than a decade.

Background Information #

Born Thomas Vincent Girardi on June 3, 1939, in Denver, Colorado, Girardi earned his bachelor’s degree and law degree from Loyola Marymount University and an LLM from New York University School of Law. He founded the Girardi Keese law firm and became known as a defender of the powerless in class-action suits against corporations, representing plaintiffs in the toxic groundwater case against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. that inspired the Oscar-winning 2000 film “Erin Brockovich,” and in the civil suit brought by Bryan Stow, the San Francisco Giants fan severely injured in an attack at Dodger Stadium. Girardi also appeared alongside his now-estranged wife Erika Jayne on the Bravo reality series “RHOBH.”

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

Girardi’s public downfall began when allegations emerged, around 2020, that his firm had not paid clients their settlement money, and he was later sued by former clients and his firm’s bankruptcy trustee. He was disbarred, and a federal grand jury indicted him in 2023 on charges of wire fraud.

At trial, prosecutors accused Girardi of running a 10-year Ponzi scheme in which he took at least $15 million in settlement funds from four clients — including relatives of people killed in the 2018 Lion Air crash — and spent the money on private jets, golf club memberships, jewelry, and the entertainment career of his wife. Government filings described “lulling communications” sent to defrauded clients that falsely denied the settlement proceeds had been paid, citing supposed tax obligations and court requirements that prosecutors said were bogus.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

A federal jury convicted Girardi on all four counts of wire fraud on August 27, 2024, after a 13-day trial in Los Angeles. Girardi, who suffered from dementia but was deemed able to assist in his own defense, testified that “every client got every penny that every client was supposed to get,” blaming his firm’s former chief accountant, Christopher Kamon, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Prosecutors said the fraud had diverted more than $25 million from the firm’s operating account to pay expenses for a company formed for Jayne’s career. Jayne, who filed for divorce in 2020, was named in a lawsuit alleging she knew of the embezzlement but was dismissed from it in 2022 and has maintained she had no knowledge of any fraud.

Current Status #

On June 3, 2025, U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton sentenced the 86-year-old Girardi to seven years and three months in prison and ordered him to pay $2.3 million in restitution to victims plus a $35,000 fine. His law firm, Girardi Keese, is closed, and his son-in-law, David Lira, a former lawyer at the firm, faced his own federal fraud trial after Girardi’s sentencing.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

Girardi’s conviction and sentence ended one of the most storied careers in American personal-injury law, converting a lawyer once feted as a champion of the powerless — and dramatized in an Oscar-winning film — into a convicted fraudster. The case also drew attention to how long the alleged scheme went undetected: prosecutors said the fraud ran from 2010 to 2020 and involved many more former clients than the four in the trial. U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada described Girardi in a statement as “a Robin-Hood-in-reverse, stealing from the needy to support of a lavish, Hollywood lifestyle,” adding: “Today’s verdict shows that the game is up.”