Celebrity lawyer Tom Girardi convicted of fraud

What happened

High-profile former attorney Tom Girardi was found guilty on four counts of wire fraud tied to a decade-long Ponzi scheme in which he stole tens of millions of dollars from his clients’ settlement payments. Girardi, 85, was part of the legal team depicted in the 2000 film “Erin Brockovich,” and his lavish lifestyle with now-estranged wife Erika Jayne was featured prominently on Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” He was disbarred in 2022.

Who said what

Girardi “built celebrity status and lured in victims by falsely portraying himself as a ‘Champion of Justice,'” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said. “In reality, he was a Robin-Hood–in-reverse.” During the trial, prosecutors “elicited emotional testimony” from a number of Girardi’s former clients, the Los Angeles Times said, “including a burn victim and a widow whose husband died in a boating accident.” Girardi’s attorneys tried to shift blame to his firm’s longtime chief financial officer, Chris Kamon.

Girardi was also accused of having “diverted more than $25 million” from his firm to pay expenses associated with Jayne’s entertainment career, NBC News said, even as his legal troubles became “a central storyline for her in recent seasons” of the popular reality series.

What next?

Girardi faces up to 80 years in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 6. He is also set to stand trial next year in Chicago for allegedly stealing $3 million from families of victims of a 2018 passenger jet crash.