A federal judge sentenced disbarred celebrity lawyer Tom Girardi to seven years and three months in prison on Tuesday for embezzling tens of millions of dollars from his clients, including several with severe physical injuries and families of people killed in accidents.
U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton also ordered Girardi, 86, to pay a $35,000 fine and $2.3 million in restitution to former clients. A jury in August found him guilty of four counts of wire fraud, and he could have been sentenced to up to 80 years in prison.
Girardi is the estranged husband of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne and appeared on the show himself dozens of times between 2015 and 2020.
He was once among the most prominent lawyers in the nation, often representing victims of major disasters against powerful companies. One lawsuit against California’s Pacific Gas and Electric utility led to a $333 million settlement and was portrayed in the 2000 Julia Roberts film “Erin Brockovich.”
But his law empire collapsed, and he was disbarred in California in 2022 over client thefts.
Girardi has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and issues with his memory led another court to put him in a conservatorship under his brother. But on Monday, Staton ruled that he was mentally competent to be sentenced, just as she had previously found him mentally competent to stand trial.
The judge had allowed him to remain free until his sentencing but ordered him to surrender to authorities by July 17.
An email to Girardi’s attorney seeking comment on the conviction was not immediately answered.
Former clients who testified against Girardi at his trial included an Arizona woman whose husband was killed in a boat accident and victims who were burned in a 2010 gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, south of San Francisco.
Prosecutors played jurors voicemails in which Girardi gave a litany of false reasons money that a court had awarded could not be paid, including tax and debt obligations and judge authorizations. He frequently told them, “Don’t be mad at me.”
