He’s going from “Real Housewives” reality TV to reality in the Big House.
Tom Girardi, a one-time hotshot Los Angeles lawyer and regular figure on “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” was sentenced Tuesday to more than seven years in prison for embezzling from his own clients, according to NBC News.
As coverage of the case by The Associated Press noted, the downfall has been stunning:
“He was once among the most prominent lawyers in the nation, often representing victims of major disasters against powerful companies,” the AP reported.
“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.’”
He’s due to report to prison in July.
The 83-year-old now-disbarred attorney, who backed Joe Biden for the presidency in 2020, tried to avoid trial with his lawyers claiming he has Alzheimer’s, NBC reported.
Convicted in August of four counts of wire fraud, he has been in an assisted care facility throughout the legal process, according to NBC.
In addition to his prison term of seven years and three months, Girardi was ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution and was fined $35,000, NBC reported.
Is seven years and change a fair sentencing?
His embezzlement of settlement funds that should have gone to his clients went on for more than a decade, according to NBC.
Among those he defrauded were relatives of some of the 189 who died in the 2018 crash of a Lion Air passenger plane in the Java Sea, according to NBC.
“This self-proclaimed ‘champion of justice’ was nothing more than a thief and a liar who conned his vulnerable clients out of millions of dollars,” Bilal Essayli, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement, according to NBC.
Girardi is the estranged husband of Erika Jayne, one of the stars of the Bravo series “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”
According to prosecutors, Girardi diverted more than $25 million from his law firm’s operating expenses to a company called EJ Global, which was formed around Jayne’s career, NBC reported.
“The money was spent on luxury cars, private jet travel, jewelry and exclusive clubs, according to prosecutors,” NBC reported.
Jayne, 53, filed for divorce in 2020, according to NBC, but the process has been slowed by Girardi’s mental and physical condition.
She was named in a lawsuit claiming she knew about the embezzlement of money from the Lion Air clients, but was dismissed from the suit in 2022, according to NBC.
She has maintained she knew nothing about the illicit activities.
Girardi isn’t the only member of the now-closed Girardi Keese law firm who’s in trouble with the law, according to NBC.
Christopher Kamon, the firm’s former head of accounting, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of wire fraud and aiding and abetting Girardi, according to NBC.
David Lira, Girardi’s son-in-law and a former attorney for Girardi Keese, is set for trial in July on fraud charges, NBC reported.
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