Tom Girardi found guilty of embezzling millions that prosecutors say financed the lifestyle of the series “Real Housewives”

On Tuesday morning, jurors returned a verdict in the case of Tom Girardi, the once-powerful Los Angeles attorney accused of running a Ponzi scheme for a decade that defrauded his clients of millions of dollars in settlement payments.

Girardi, 85, was found guilty of four counts of wire fraud for embezzling at least $15 million from four of his clients, some of whom suffered serious physical injuries or lost loved ones as part of their cases. During his trial, prosecutors argued he spent the stolen money on private jets and jewelry and maintained a luxurious lifestyle that included a sprawling Pasadena estate and was featured on the reality show “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” which stars his now-estranged wife, Erika Girardi, a pop singer who performs as Erika Jayne.

In 2021, allegations against the former personal injury attorney were the focus of the Hulu documentary series “The Housewife and the Hustler.” In 2022, he was disbarred.

“Tom Girardi built a celebrity status and lured victims by falsely posing as a 'champion of justice,'” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement announcing Girardi's sentencing. “In reality, he was a reverse Robin Hood, stealing from the needy to fund a lavish Hollywood lifestyle.”

The federal prosecutor's office argues that he embezzled and misappropriated millions from his clients between October 2010 and the end of 2020. Among the victims Girardi stole fromAccording to prosecutors, these are families of victims of the Lion Air plane crash in October 2018, in which 189 people died. This tragic crash was the first of two involving Boeing 737 Max 8 jets within just five months.

At the end of 2020, according to prosecutors, Girardi's company faced increasing financial problems that eventually forced him into bankruptcy.

Girardi has long denied the allegations. Public defender Charles Snyder, who represented him, argued that Girardi's cognitive impairment worsened after he was diagnosed with dementia and late-onset Alzheimer's disease. Snyder also said that members of Girardi's now-closed law firm, Girardi Keese, stole funds “hand and foot.”

Snyder said that “Girardi was no longer paying the attention he needed to the company's business” as he “grew old, sick, and lost his mind.”

But federal prosecutors said Girardi intentionally defrauded his clients.

“He wanted the outside world to believe he was fighting for people who could not help themselves,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ali Moghaddas during his closing argument on Monday.

But those customers just kept waiting for the money to arrive, and from then on, “days turned into months and months turned into years,” Moghaddas said.

On Tuesday, Estrada said Girardi could face up to 80 years in prison when he is sentenced on Dec. 6, but the court will consider several factors. Girardi currently lives in a nursing home in Orange County.

“We're not going to prejudge that,” Estrada said. “We'll look at all the facts as they become available to us.”

However, Estrada also said that a possible prison sentence had not been ruled out.

“But the mere fact that he is older, an older adult, does not mean that we will not seek prison time,” he said.

“Presented himself as an advocate for the little people”

In 1996, Girardi was one of the lawyers representing the small desert community of Hinkley in San Bernardino County in a water pollution lawsuit against energy giant Pacific Gas & Electric. The chemical chromium was blamed for causing cancer and other diseases among residents.

Pacific Gas & Electric reached a $333 million settlement with hundreds of plaintiffs. The case was made famous by the 2000 film “Erin Brockovich,” starring Julia Roberts. At the time of the settlement, the Los Angeles Times reported that Girardi called it “a great moment in the history of righting wrongs.”

The lawyer, who specializes in personal injuries, obtained settlements worth millions in other high-profile cases and earned a reputation as a legal luminary in LA.

“Mr. Girardi presented himself as a lawyer for the little people,” Estrada told reporters during a press conference after the guilty verdict. “He presented himself as a lawyer for Erin Brockovich.”

Estrada said the now-discredited attorney “cultivated his image as a lawyer who fought against corporate greed.” But that reputation was challenged in 2021 by the airing of “The Housewife and the Hustler,” which highlighted allegations against him by clients – including families of victims of the 2018 Lion Air crash – claiming that Girardi and two of his colleagues at his now-defunct firm stole more than $3 million in settlement money from them.

Last year, Girardi was indicted on federal charges related to with these allegations.

“The significant violation of law alleged in this indictment has only heightened the grief and anguish of clients who lost loved ones in the Lion Air crash,” U.S. Attorney John Lausch said at the time.

A lavish lifestyle like on “Real Housewives”

When Lion Air victims asked Girardi in May 2020 where the money was, he tried to stall herstates the indictment filed by federal prosecutors last year. At the time, prosecutors say, he wrote to a client in a letter: “I think you will love me in 30 days.”

Months later, in December of the same year, a lawyer who represented the Lion Air victims alongside Girardi, Jay Edelson sued himIn court documents, he said Girardi had re-victimized the people he represented in the wrongful death trial.

“You have a celebrity lawyer with his celebrity wife spending their money on who knows what. That's really hard to process,” Edelson said.

The following year, “The Housewife and the Hustler” aired in the summer of 2021 and highlighted the allegations against Girardi. By that time, prosecutors said, Girardi was already battling legal problems related to a decade of stealing from clients and had been forced into bankruptcy and had his license revoked.

The allegations against him soon surfaced on the reality TV show that stars his now-estranged wife. Erika Jayne – whose pop music career, prosecutors say, was funded with money Girardi withheld from his clients – shows off designer clothes, jewelry, sports cars and mansions with her co-stars on Bravo TV's “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”

She eventually filed for divorce from Girardi.

“Obviously he had a very lavish lifestyle,” Estrada said Tuesday. “You only have to watch a little bit of television to see how lavishly he lived.”

Just two months after the documentary was released, Girardi auctioned off valuable possessions from his Wilshire Boulevard law office, including a Los Angeles Lakers championship ringover 100 bottles of wine and a framed receipt for the million-dollar settlement in the 1996 Hinkley water lawsuit.

In January of this year, a federal judge ruled that Girardi was competent to stand trial. After a 13-day trial, the jury found him guilty on four counts of wire fraud. Prosecutors said each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.