LOS ANGELES — Tom Girardi, the once-vaunted Los Angeles trial attorney, was indicted by federal grand juries in two states on fraud charges amid allegations of swindling millions of dollars from injured and wounded clients, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
In Chicago, Girardi and his son-in-law, attorney David Lira, and the former chief financial officer of Girardi’s law firm, Christopher Kamon, were charged with eight counts of wire fraud and four counts of contempt of court. Prosecutors said they misappropriated more than $3 million in settlement funds from the relatives of those who died in an Indonesian plane crash.
In Los Angeles, Girardi was charged with wire fraud following accusations of embezzling more than $15 million from clients and using the funds to cover his law firm’s payroll and pay his personal expenses, including a hefty American Express bill and fees at two country clubs. The L.A. case also includes charges against Kamon, the former CFO, and indicates that he and his boss “devised, participated in, and executed a scheme to defraud victim clients” from 2010 until the firm, Girardi Keese, collapsed in late 2020.
