In stunning testimony, Girardi says he'd 'go crazy' if he knew of accountant's theft
In stunning testimony, Girardi says he'd 'go crazy' if he knew of accountant's theft
The disbarred lawyer took the witness stand Thursday in his own defense on federal wire fraud charges. Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday morning.
In a sensational twist to his federal criminal trial, disbarred lawyer and former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills husband Tom Girardi testified Thursday he never stole from his clients but “liens” and “holdback” prevented them from getting their money all at once.
“As I sit here every single client, and I swear to you, got every single penny they were supposed to get,” Girardi testified in U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton’s courtroom in Los Angeles. He said he didn’t know his law firm’s chief accountant, Christopher Kamon, was stealing from him and if he had, “I’d go crazy. I’d get him indicted, obviously. I had no clue.”
Kamon is charged with aiding and abetting Girardi’s fraud and also is accused of orchestrating his own scheme that defrauded Girardi Keese LLP out of millions of dollars. Girardi’s defense attorneys persuaded Judge Staton to hold separate trials, and they’ve worked to portray Kamon to the jury as the mastermind of a fraud that took advantage of Girardi’s declining mental state.
Girardi’s decision to testify in his defense shocked prosecutors and may have been against the advice of his public defenders, who appeared uneasy when telling Staton at the end of court Wednesday that they needed to talk to Girardi about testifying. They met with Girardi in a conference room for several minutes this morning before they requested a sidebar with prosecutors and the judge, then announced to the jury afterward, “The defense calls Tom Girardi.”
Girardi's 45 minutes on the stand was his final defense against four wire fraud charges involving an alleged scheme to defraud clients between 2010 and 2020, when he was the most prominent mass torts lawyer in the country and highly influential in the California judiciary. He also was famous for being married to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne, who did not testify in trial but operated a company that received about $22 million from Girardi’s law firm during the same period he’s accused of defrauding people who trusted him with their personal injury lawsuits.
Also Thursday, Los Angeles lawyer Jeffrey Isaacs of Isaacs Friedberg Zill LLP revealed in prosecutors’ rebuttal testimony after Girardi testified that he met with federal prosecutors about Girardi’s theft of client money several years ago, but prosecutors declined to charge Girardi with a crime. Girardi’s lawyers said they would have called one of the prosecutors to testify had they known of the decision, which they said should have been released to them as exculpatory evidence.
Isaac’s testimony was publicly overshadowed by Girardi’s stunning testimony, which was his first public comments since his firm collapsed in December 2020 amid fraud allegations. Brain scans show Girardi’s memory-controlling hippocampus has shrunk in recent years, but after hearing several days of testimony, Staton in January concluded he’s feigning and exaggerating his mental decline and rejected his lawyers’ argument that he’s mentally incompetent for trial.
Now 85 years old, Girardi spoke quickly and sharply on the stand Thursday, never stumbling or appearing confused but also testifying fantastically, such as as saying he wasn’t in the courtroom when an alleged client victim testified and that his law firm is still operating and doing well.
‘Obviously, we didn’t know about it’
Deputy Federal Defender Samuel Cross began his exam by saying, “Good morning, Mr. Girardi. How are you?”
“I’m good,” Girardi answered.
Girardi said he opened his law firm 45 years ago and the firm did well “due to the handwork of the lawyers and the staff.”
When Cross asked about his major cases, Girardi said “the only one you know about is” from the movie Erin Brockovich with Julia Roberts, but his other cases get a lot of attention “in the legal community.”
He implied he has no knowledge of the troubles afflicting the attorneys that worked with him. When Cross asked who David Lira is, Girardi answered “David Lira is a terrific lawyer, a great guy” and said he has a “family relationship with him.” Lira is Girardi’s son-in-law who has been disciplined by the California State Bar and is charged in the Chicago federal criminal case alleging they stole money due clients in a settlement over a deadly plane crash.
He called Shirleen Fujimotio, who testified earlier this week, “the greatest human being of all time” and “my personal secretary” and said “five o’clock means nothing to her” because “she was there to get the job done.”
He also cracked jokes. After Girardi cleared his throat and said, “Excuse me, please,” Cross asked him if he was “ready for the next question.”
Girardi answered, “I don’t know. What is the next question?”
Cross asked if he knows Alexa Galloway, who testified as a prosecution witness, and Girardi answered that she’s an attorney at his firm. Asked about Kamon, Girardi said he “was an accountant at the firm” and that he “stole a lot of money.”
“Obviously, we didn’t know about it,” Girardi testified. “It was several million. I don’t know the number.”
Girardi looked at the jury as he testified that Kamon “had a lot of leeway” as the head of accounting. Cross asked what he knows about Kamon’s theft and Girardi answered, “I don’t know very much, but he was very clever in stealing millions of dollars.” At the same time, the firm was successful, Girardi said.
“I think we lost one case in six years,” he testified. Girardi said “a lot of money would come in” to help the “wonderful people” he employed.
Asked if he knew of Nicole Rokita, Kamon’s former girlfriend who testified as a defense witness, Girardi answered, “Nicole rings a bell.”
Girardi also said another defense witness, Isidro Bravo, who testified on Wednesday about helping Kamon defraud the firm by submitting fraudulent invoices for his construction company, may have worked at the firm, identifying him as “she.”
Cross asked if he knew which attorneys worked on each of the four cases at issue in the wire fraud indictment, and Girardi answered no each time.
“You know there are 48 lawyers in the firm?” Girardi asked.
Cross asked if Girardi remembered the COVID pandemic in 2020.
“A little bit,” he answered.
Girardi said “like a lot of law firms,” his firm “had some difficulties” during that time.
Cross then asked about a family whose case Girardi was focused on during 2020. Jurors have heard testimony from Girardi’s former employees about the Phipps White family’s disputes with the Hollywood Land Development Co. and Girardi’s efforts to involve then Vice President Joe Biden, whom he considered a friend.
Girardi testified Thursday he doesn’t know who the Phipps Whites are, but he remembers a case involving the company.
Cross asked him what it was about.
“I’m not ready for cross. I just remember the Hollywood Land Development case,” Girardi answered. Cross told him cross-examination “is coming up” and again asked him about the case. He showed Girardi a Jan. 28, 2020, letter he wrote Biden that began, “I would never ask anything from you if it in any way harmed you.” Girardi wrote that he was “in desperate need of your withdrawing as trustee,” and Girardi’s lawyers have used it as evidence of his deteriorating mental state.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ali Moghaddas objected and said the document speaks for itself, but Judge Staton overruled and said she’d “allow him to expand.”
Girardi answered, “I’m not ready for cross.” He didn’t testify about any details related to the case, so Cross said, “I just have a few more questions for you, Tom.”
“That’s good,” Girardi answered.
Cross asked if he “can tell the jury why you got into this line of work, being an attorney.”
Girardi answered that he heard from judges and lawyers while a student at Loyola Law School who made him believe that “this could really be good.”
“Helping people who were injured. I wanted to do that,” Girardi testified. “It’s been wonderful. It’s a great job.” He also said he “wanted more and more of the money to go to the wonderful people who worked” at his firm.
That’s when Cross asked what he’d do if he’d known Kamon was stealing from the firm and Girardi answered, “Well, I’d go crazy. I'd get him indicted, obviously. I had no clue.” Girardi continued talking about the “nice success of the firm” before Cross cut him off to finish the exam, saying he had no further questions.
Girardi tells prosecutor, ‘You gotta be nice’
Moghaddas began his cross-exam by asking, “Mr. Girardi, how are you?”
“I don’t know. That’s up to you, I think,” Girardi answered.
Moghaddas asked why and Girardi told him, “You gotta be nice.”
“I'm always nice,” the prosecutor answered before asking Girardi if he’d been “a successful lawyers in L.A. for decades.”
Girardi answered “yes” and said he’d “like to think it continues.”
Moghaddas asked if he got into financial trouble and Girardi said yes, recently, but Moghaddas said Girardi’s “financial issues began long before that” and asked if he remembered “the Ruigomez family,” who are the clients involved in a 2013 settlement that’s the basis for one of his wire fraud charges. Girardi answered yes.
When Moghaddas asked if he knew the family was due millions of dollars from Pacific Gas & Electric, Girardi answered, “No, I do.” He said “of course” when Moghaddas asked if he remembered the case was about an explosion that nearly killed Joseph Ruigomez, but he answered, “I don’t,” when the prosecutor asked if he remembered telling the family the settlement was $5 million when it was actually $53 million.
Moghaddas asked if doing so would have been “improper.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have said that,” Girardi testified, referring to the $53 million versus $5 million claim.
Moghaddas asked it if was one of many lies, and Girardi answered, “I didn’t really ever tell anybody the wrong thing.”
Moghaddas displayed a June 21, 2013 letter Girardi signed to the Ruigomezes that said the law firm “guaranteed there will be no loss” regarding their settlement. Girardi said Joseph Ruigomez’s mother told him that “he had a real drug problem” and not to give him a large sum of money because “he'll kill himself.”
“It’s not a story. It’s the truth,” Girardi testified.
Moghaddas said Girardi “actually told them a host of other reasons” why he couldn’t pay, including that Edward Panelli, the recently deceased retired California Supreme Court justice who oversaw the settlement, was the one recommending they not get the full amount at one time.
Moghaddas said Girardi used Panelli, who was a mediator at the private judging company JAMS, in other cases, and Girardi testified that Panelli was “terrific” and would “convince the other side to do the right thing” and persuade clients, too.
“He would really help us. He was wonderful,” Girardi testified.
Moghaddas asked about Girardi’s stated reasons for not paying the family and said, “those aren’t the real reasons” right? Girardi answered, “No, you’re wrong.”
Moghaddas said Girardi used the Ruigomez’s settlement money in 2013 to pay other clients, “isn’t that true?”
“I don’t think so,” Girardi answered. Girardi said accounting may have missed something, but “I wasn’t about to, quote, go steal money. I wouldn’t think of it.”
“I don’t take a salary. I don’t take a percentage. I work really hard,” Girardi testified.
Moghaddas asked if Girardi charged to his law firm expenses related to his wife’s company, EJ Global. Jurors have seen evidence that Girardi Keese sent $21.9 million to the company between 2010 and 2020, but Girardi answered, “No, I don’t think so.”
Moghaddas said, “But what about,” but Girardi cut him off and said, “Let me finish” and said something about $48 million in costs.
If the firm owed him money, “I could take money down,” Girardi said.
Moghaddas said what if a client hadn’t been paid. “Would it be appropriate for you to use" the money to finance his wife's career? the prosecutor asked.
Girardi answered no. Moghaddas asked if it was appropriate to use client money for himself, and Girardi said no, then said, “Just a sec now. Be nice to me.”
He continued that there was a lot of money coming into the firm and that every client “got every penny” they were due.
That’s when he testified, “As I sit here every single client, and I swear to you, got every single penny they were supposed to get.”
Moghaddas said his client Josefina Hernandez didn’t get anything from her settlement, and Girardi said he didn’t know that.
Moghaddas asked about Judy Selberg, whose lawsuit over her husband’s fatal boat accident settled for $504,000.
“OK, on Selberg, I remember some of that,” Girardi said, then relayed a situation similar to what he told the Ruigomezes about being unable to pay all the money because of a drug problem."
“She would be dead” if she’d been paid in full, Girardi said.
Girardi said he didn’t remember Erika Saldana’s $17.5 million settlement over her son's car crash in 2020 but said the letter Moghaddas displayed indicated “there were some issues with the IRS.”
“You would make up any excuse for why you couldn’t pay clients for years. Isn’t that the truth?” Moghaddas asked.
“No,” Girardi answered.
Girardi testified that he needed to “hold back funds” for various reasons, but the money wasn’t “for me to take.”
“I didn’t even take a salary, even though I worked pretty hard,” Girardi said.
Moghaddas ended by asking Girardi about his career as a plaintiff’s attorney.
“You spent your career persuading people?” Moghaddas asked.
“I don’t know. We’ll find out,” Girardi said.
Murmurs could be heard from the gallery, which filled with people during Girardi’s time on the stand.
“What do you mean?” Moghaddas asked.
Girardi said he was “looking at the jury” when he said that. He said he doesn’t want to persuade them, he wants them to genuinely believe him.
“I swear to you: If I had any clue that the guy in accounting was stealing, I would have gone crazy,” he testified. Moghaddas played a video clip of Girardi saying in a 2020 interview, “If you’re not a good persuader, you’re not a good plaintiff’s lawyer.”
Moghaddas said Girardi was one of the best plaintiff’s lawyers to ever exist, wasn’t he?
“Nice of you to say that,” Girardi answered.
The prosecutor said he had no further questions.
On re-direct, Cross asked if Girardi remembered Joseph Ruigomez testifying in the trial.
“No,” Girardi answered.
Asked if he remembered Fujimoto testifying, Girardi answered, “No, I didn’t see that.”
Girardi said he “wasn't in the courtroom” when asked if he remembered Saldana’s testimony. Girardi testified that sometimes the firm got in situations where they didn’t pay the clients all the money, but “the money didn’t go to me.”
“I didn’t take” a single cent, Girardi said. He continued before Cross cut him off by saying, “OK, Tom.”
Cross asked if he believes his firm is still operating.
“Yes,” Girardi answered.
Cross ended his re-direct by asking Girardi, “What’s my name?”
“I have no idea. Bad. Mean. Terrible. It’s one of those,” Girardi answered.
Closing arguments will be Monday morning. I have many handwritten notes from the defense testimony this week that I need to type up into an article. I plan to do that Friday and this weekend and publish an article early Monday. If you haven’t already, read my article on the prosecution witnesses:
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