Disgraced former Los Angeles celebrity lawyer Tom Girardi has been indicted by federal grand juries in Los Angeles and Chicago on charges of stealing more than $18 million from clients, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
The charges mark the latest in a string of legal blows for a once-powerful player who rubbed elbows with politicians and celebrities as one of the nation’s most prominent plaintiff’s lawyers, known for winning settlements such as the one portrayed in the movie “Erin Brockovich.”
Girardi held himself up as a champion who won large payouts to compensate people harmed by large corporations, but “was robbing and stealing from those people,” Los Angeles U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said at a news conference.
“He claimed to be fighting for those less fortunate,” Estrada said. “But our investigation has revealed that behind this public persona, (he was) committing fraud on a massive of scale.”
The schemes included stealing funds from a couple whose son was paralyzed in a car wreck, a widow whose husband died when a boat unexpectedly sped up to 120 miles per hour and flipped, and family members of victims in a 2018 Lion Air crash that killed 189 people, according to the indictments.
Girardi, 83, who once played a supporting role on “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” which starred his now-estranged Erika Jayne, was disbarred last summer for siphoning funds intended for clients. His firm Girardi Keese is bankrupt…
