Tom Girardi to undergo psychological testing before sentencing in $15M wire fraud conviction
Tom Girardi has been ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation to determine where he should serve his sentence following his conviction on federal wire fraud charges.
Lawyers for the former attorney, whose landmark settlement against Pacific Gas & Electric was featured in the Oscar winning film Erin Brockovich, requested a new trial in October, claiming the 85-year-old estranged husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne suffered from dementia and was unfit to stand trail prior to his conviction in August.
In order to determine if those concerns are valid, U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton ordered on Friday that he surrender to officials on January 7 for evaluation.
Girardi will be then flown to the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, for 30 days to see whether he qualifies for incarceration at a Bureau of Prisons center serving severely impaired, elderly defendants.
After that, he would be returned to California for a hearing to determine if he should serve his sentence at a prison or medical facility.
The disbarred attorney's legal team argued it wasn't necessary for their client to travel across the country for evaluation. 'Mr. Girardi has special needs relating to his memory,' defense attorney Samuel Cross said.
'We expect him to deteriorate and not do well [in Bureau of Prisons custody]. … There’s no reason this has to be done a continent away,' according to Rolling Stone.
However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Paetty countered that the U.S. Marshals are 'well-versed' in transporting defendants with medical issues.
'The defendant is ambulatory. He’s not on a respirator, he’s not on a ventilator. They can facilitate [his transportation] safely, humanely, and suitably.'
Girardi was convicted of stealing more than $15 million from his clients which he used to pay for his lavish lifestyle in August.
Staton had ruled Girardi was competent to stand trial then, finding that while he suffered some mental decline, the former attorney was exaggerating his symptoms, and was able to contribute to his own defense.
Prosecutors have asked for a 14-year sentence, but the defensed claimed Girardi was a 'broke, half-blind, incontinent, 85-year-old man with dementia,' who should not spend time behind bars.
Girardi, who built the prestigious LA law firm Girardi & Keese, was charged and convicted on four counts of wire fraud, each of which carries a 20 year sentence.
His high-rolling career came tumbling down in 2020 when he was accused of stealing millions in settlements he’d won for the victims of the 2018 Lion Air plane crash in Indonesia.
Claims from that crash - in which 189 people died - are the basis of separate criminal charges against Girardi that are still pending in Chicago. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges as well.
During the trial, the jury heard that between 2010 and 2020 the shamed attorney used his clients’ settlement funds 'like a personal piggy bank.'
Paetty told the jury 'Girardi Keese was a den of thieves and Tom Girardi was the thief-in-chief. Girardi Keese was a house of cards built on the lies of Tom Girardi.'
They described how Girardi ran a massive 'Ponzi scheme,' lying to clients and using their misappropriated millions to pay for his own lavish lifestyle of private jets, luxury cars, exclusive club memberships, expensive jewelry for his third wife, ex-go-go dancer Jayne, 52, plus $20 million to fund her acting career.
Prosecutors also showed how the attorney would sometimes use settlements from one client to pay others.
The couple were together for 21 years but their divorce - filed by Jayne soon after the Lion Air allegations - has been held up since Girardi Keese filed bankruptcy in 2021 with more than $100 million in debts.
Jayne never showed up at her soon-to-be-ex husband’s trial.
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