In a stunning move, disgraced former attorney Tom Girardi took the witness stand Thursday to testify in his defense, asserting that he never intentionally misled clients and that “every client got every penny that every client was supposed to get.”
Girardi, 85, was the final witness called by his lawyers to testify at his ongoing criminal trial.
A grand jury indicted Girardi on four counts of wire fraud, with prosecutors accusing him of swindling more than $15 million from his law firm’s clients between 2010 and 2020. His attorneys have long sought to portray Girardi as mentally incompetent and in the throes of progressive cognitive decline, but a federal judge this year deemed him fit to stand trial.
For the last two weeks, jurors in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom have heard emotional testimony from Girardi’s former clients, who recounted the trust they placed in him and their efforts to collect thousands, and in some cases, millions of dollars of the settlements he won for them.
Wearing a grey blazer, Girardi smiled as he shuffled toward the witness stand, with hands trembling. He answered questions for 45 minutes, first from Deputy Federal Public Defender Samuel Cross.
Girardi began by painting a rosy picture of the firm he owned and ran for more than 40 years, Girardi Keese.
“The firm was doing so well because of the wonderful people who worked there and still work there,” he said. Later, his lawyer asked if his law firm, which shuttered in late 2020 and was forced into bankruptcy, was still open.
“Is your law firm still open, Tom,” Cross asked.
“Yes,” Tom said.
“Tom, what’s my name,” Cross asked.
“I don’t know,” Tom replied. “Bad, mean, terrible, it’s one of those.”
Girardi noted that he worked more than 50 hours a week and took on big cases such as the suit against Pacific Gas & Electric featured in “Erin Brockovich.” He pointed out that Julia Roberts starred in the award-winning film.
But when Cross, his public defender, asked about specific cases in which he is accused of stealing clients’ settlement funds, Girardi minimized his role and denied misconduct.
Asked about Joseph Ruigomez, who won a settlement of more than $50 million for burns he suffered in the San Bruno gas explosion, Girardi acknowledged working on the case but denied misappropriating funds.
For other victims who have testified during the ongoing trial — such as Judy Selberg, who never received the full settlement in connection with her husband’s death in a boating accident — Girardi said he had no idea which lawyers at his firm handled each case.
Girardi said he got into the legal profession with a goal of “helping people who have been harmed.”
“It’s been wonderful. It’s a great job,” he said from the witness stand.
And he painted himself as a selfless boss who put his staff first, repeatedly telling the jury that he never took a salary.
“I wanted more and more [of] the money to go to the wonderful people who worked there,” he said.
As to accusations that Girardi stole from clients, he shifted blame to his longtime chief financial officer, Chris Kamon. (Kamon is also charged with wire fraud in connection with the theft of client money, along with a separate case in which he is accused of embezzling funds from the firm to finance the purchase of homes and a $20,000-per-month payment to his girlfriend.)
Girardi said Kamon “was pretty clever in stealing millions of dollars.”
Cross asked what Girardi would have done if he had known earlier about the alleged embezzlement. “I’d go crazy. I’d get him indicted. I had no idea,” Girardi said.
But the tone turned testy once Assistant U.S. Atty. Ali Moghaddas began his cross-examination of Girardi.
Moghaddas asked Girardi how he was feeling.
“That’s up to you,” Girardi replied. “You’ve got to be nice.”
The prosecutor asked Girardi why he told the Ruigomez family their settlement was $5 million when it was ten times as large, $53 million.
“I wouldn’t have said that,” Girardi insisted, adding that “there’s no way in the world” he would lie to a client.
“I didn’t intentionally ever tell somebody the wrong thing,” he added.
Pressed by the prosecutor, Girardi claimed that Ruigomez and another client had drug problems and suggested he was acting in their best interests by withholding settlement funds from them.
Girardi said Ruigomez’s mother told him, “You can’t give him a bunch of money. He will kill himself.”
“I remember that, I declare under penalty of perjury,” Girardi continued.
When the prosecutor dismissed this as a “story” that Girardi told, he was defiant: “It’s not a story, it’s the truth.”
Girardi was resolute that his firm got money out to families the day the settlement funds arrived “because that money is important.”
“I’ve never taken a salary as a lawyer. I wasn’t going to quote ‘go steal money.’ I wouldn’t think of it,” he said.
When Moghaddas asked about Girardi’s purchasing of jewelry for his now-estranged wife, “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Girardi, he insisted this was not derived from clients’ funds.
“Every client got every penny that every client was supposed to get,” he testified. “Every single client — and I swear to you — got every single penny that they were supposed to get.”
Near the end of his cross-examination, Moghaddas referenced how Girardi made a career — and a fortune — out of persuading people to see his (or his clients’) point of view.
“I don’t know, we’ll find out,” Girardi said as he looked at the jury. Moghaddas asked what he meant by that.
“I was looking to the jury,” Girardi replied, before adding, “I don’t want to persuade them to believe me, I want them to believe me.”