Ex-lawyer Tom Girardi competent to stand trial in embezzlement case: psychologist
nypost.comestranged wife Erika Jayne, will face a federal judge on Aug. 3.Neuropsychologist Dr. Diana Goldstein “has concluded her examination and opined, among other things, that defendant is competent to stand trial,” according to court documents viewed by City News Service.Girardi, 83, who ran the now defunct law firm Girardi Keese, was indicted in February on five counts of wire fraud.
Federal prosecutors allege the 83-year old lied to his clients and bilked them out of more than $15 million from 2010 to 2020.
Girardi Keese former financial chief officer, Christopher Kamon, 49, faces similar charges and both men face a prison sentence of up to 20 years.Authorities allege Girardi and Kamon used their clients’ settlement money to fund payroll, bankroll personal expenses and pay other clients’ settlements that they had already misappropriated. “In doing so, they allegedly preyed on the very people who trusted and relied upon them the most— their clients,” said US Attorney Martin Estrada in February.Girardi was disbarred last year after the State Bar of California received 205 complaints against the veteran attorney.Girardi was part of the legal team that successfully sued Pacific Gas & Electric in 1993 for contaminating the groundwater in the small town of Hinkley, Calif.
The case was the basis of the 2001 Oscar-winning film “Erin Brockovich.” Girardi and Jayne were sued by Edelson PC, a Chicago-based class-action firm, on behalf of a number of Boeing plane crash victims for allegedly embezzling settlement funds meant to help the victims of Lion Air Flight 610.
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