Former high-powered attorney Tom Girardi, whose wife starred on “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” was charged Wednesday with stealing millions from his clients.
Girardi, 83, was known in legal circles for winning massive settlements against major corporations. He was known to reality TV fans as the husband of “RHOBH” star Erika Jayne.
But behind the scenes, Girardi was stealing millions he won in court and funding a lavish lifestyle for him and his wife, according to federal prosecutors.
“He claimed to be fighting for those less fortunate,” Los Angeles U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said Wednesday. “But our investigation has revealed that behind this public persona, [he was] committing fraud on a massive scale.”
Girardi faces 15 counts of wire fraud in Los Angeles and Chicago and stands accused of stealing $18 million from clients. In one case, the feds said Girardi swiped money from a family whose child was paralyzed in a car crash, according to Reuters.
The Chicago case centers on the 2018 crash of Lion Air Flight 610, one of two infamous Boeing 737 MAX crashes. At the time, Boeing was headquartered in Chicago, and Girardi secured an $11 million settlement for relatives of five crash victims.
However, Girardi and his now bankrupt firm Girardi Keese stole $3 million, investigators said.
Jayne filed for divorce from Girardi in November 2020. A few months later, he was placed under a conservatorship and diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. His brother Robert serves as conservator.