Tom Girardi’s lawyers are pushing for a new trial for the disgraced lawyer after claiming he was not fit to stand trial before his conviction for wire fraud in August.
The 85-year-old disgraced lawyer and estranged husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne was found guilty on four charges of swindling his horribly injured or grieving clients out of around $15 million in settlement fees.
He must return to court for sentencing on December 6 – but Girardi’s lawyers – who have previously cited his 2021 diagnosis of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease and dementia – have filed a motion for acquittal over concerns he did not understand the trial process.
Despite this, the lawyers have bizarrely requested that Girardi have a new trial in another motion – ‘if Girardi can regain competency.’
Legal documents obtained by DailyMail.com and filed by Central District of California federal public defenders Charles Snyder, Samuel Cross, Alejandro Barrientos and Cuauhtemoc Ortega read: ‘As previously argued, the Court must grant a judgment of acquittal as to all counts because no rational juror could’ve found that the government proved each element of each offense, or any element of any offense, beyond a reasonable doubt.
‘In addition, or in the alternative, the Court should grant Girardi a new trial under Rules 29(d)(1) and/or Rule 33’.
Tom Girardi’s lawyers are pushing for a new trial for the disgraced lawyer after claiming he was not fit to stand trial before his conviction for wire fraud in August – pictured August 2024
The documents state Girardi was ‘unable to remember what happened from one trial day to the next, or even from one witness to the next.
‘He could not remember, inter alia, what witnesses were testifying, how witnesses related to his charges, or which attorneys represented him.’
It continued: ‘The information included in the defense’s rejected filing is corroborated by Girardi’s caretaker Tanya McAlprin in a recent declaration, attached as exhibit B to this motion, which confirms that Mr. Girardi could not remember the progress of his trial from one day to the next.
‘It is especially notable that, despite the Court’s observation of Mr. Girardi’s note writing during trial, Mr. Girardi was still unable to keep track of the progress of proceedings over time.’
Despite Girardi being found competent to stand trial in January 2024, the motion claims ‘the opinions of the two government experts during initial competency proceedings were based on incomplete information including a lack of information about how Girardi Keese attorneys urged Girardi’s non-attorney wife to intervene in the Hollywood Land Development Company matter because Nicholas Phipps White was committing “elder abuse” on Girardi.’
The motion also claims: ‘He could not name any of the attorneys who worked on the Girardi Keese client matters despite having sat through testimony of some of the lawyers, including Alexa Galloway.
‘He did not know who Nicole Rokita was, despite sitting through her notable testimony about her relationship to Christopher Kamon and Kamon’s multimillion dollar theft from Girardi Keese.
‘He could not recall that, while still an attorney at Girardi Keese, he sent a letter to then-Vice President Joseph Biden about a supposed multi-billion dollar legal matter involving the “Hollywood Land Development Company.”
The 85-year-old disgraced lawyer and estranged husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne was found guilty on four charges of swindling his horribly injured or grieving clients out of around $15 million in settlement fees
The documents state Girardi was ‘unable to remember what happened from one trial day to the next, or even from one witness to the next’ – with defenders wanting him to get a new trial – if he can regain competency – pictured August 2024
The motion document also reads: ‘The Court should grant Mr. Thomas Girardi a new trial under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33 because Girardi was and is not competent to stand trial, and the information brought to the Court’s attention during trial triggered its obligation to further inquire into competency.
‘The Court should therefore vacate the verdict and, if Girardi can regain competency, order a new trial’
In January 2024 Girardi was cleared to stand trial with U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton declaring he was ‘competent to stand trial’, despite his Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
Girardi was previously declared fit by a court-appointed psychologist in June but his attorneys presented repeated challenges.
Neuropsychologist Dr. Diana Goldstein said that she ‘has concluded her examination and opined, among other things, that [Girardi] is competent to stand trial,’ she wrote. It is unclear the basis for that conclusion and her full analysis.
Goldstein’s report was filed under seal and partly redacted by Girardi’s attorneys. The prosecutors who retained Goldstein do not have access to the complete document, Yahoo News reported.
California forensic and clinical psychiatrist, Dr. Nathan Lavid wrote in a sworn affidavit that Girardi suffered from late-onset Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, the news outlet reported.
Girardi’s brother, Robert, had been acting as conservator on his brother’s behalf after Girardi underwent a mental evaluation in February 2021, The New York Post reported.
Girardi, who built the prestigious LA law firm Girardi & Keese after his fight against a California utility giant inspired the Oscar-winning movie Erin Brockovich, was charged with four counts of wire fraud, all of which he pleaded not guilty to – seen with Erika in 2016
Girardi was was stone-faced, showing little emotion as Judge Josephine Staton announced the verdicts in August, which carry sentences of up to 20 years prison on each count.
Girardi was virtually unrecognizable as the super-lawyer whose $2,000-plus designer suits once put him on best-dressed lists and whose success winning huge settlements in personal injury cases landed him on magazine covers.
It took the jury of seven men and five women only four and a half hours of deliberation to reach their guilty verdicts.
Girardi, who built the prestigious LA law firm Girardi & Keese after his fight against a California utility giant inspired the Oscar-winning movie Erin Brockovich, was charged with four counts of wire fraud, all of which he pleaded not guilty to.
His high-rolling career came tumbling down in 2020 when he was accused of stealing millions in settlements he’d won for the victims of the 2018 Lion Air plane crash in Indonesia.
Claims from that crash – in which 189 people died – are the basis of separate criminal charges against Girardi that are still pending in Chicago. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges as well.
During the trial, the jury heard that between 2010 and 2020 the shamed attorney used his clients’ settlement funds ‘like a personal piggy bank.’
‘Girardi Keese was a den of thieves and Tom Girardi was the thief-in-chief,’ Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Paetty told the court Monday.
‘Girardi Keese was a house of cards built on the lies of Tom Girardi.’
Girardi ran a massive ‘Ponzi scheme,’ lying to clients and using their misappropriated millions to pay for his own lavish lifestyle of private jets, luxury cars, exclusive club memberships, expensive jewelry for his third wife, ex-go-go dancer Jayne, 52, plus $20 million to fund her acting career.
The couple were together for 21 years but their divorce – filed by Jayne soon after the Lion Air allegations – has been held up since Girardi Keese filed bankruptcy in 2021 with more than $100 million in debts. Jayne never showed up at her soon-to-be- ex husband’s trial.
Girardi – who was disbarred in 2022 following the allegations against him – was portrayed by his defense team as suffering from dementia.
‘He got old, he got sick, he lost his mind,’ his attorney Charles Snyder told the court.
‘All the lights were on but there was nobody home. He lost touch with reality.’
Girady and his legal team also pointed the finger of blame at another man, Christopher Kamon, 49, the chief financial officer of Girard Keese who they say stole between $50 million and $100 million from the company.
Kamon is facing an upcoming separate trial in which he’s charged with similar counts to Girardi’s.
During the trial, prosecutors told jurors that Girardi preyed on clients who were ‘in their darkest hours,’ suffering from terrible injuries or mourning the death of loved ones.
Joe Ruigomez – who desperately needed money to pay the giant medical bills for the horrible injuries he suffered in a 2020 gas explosion at his home that killed his girlfriend – was told by Girardi that his settlement from the PG&E utility was $5 million, when it was actually $50 million.
Another Girardi client, Judy Selberg, hired the once-acclaimed lawyer to bring an unlawful death lawsuit after her husband Paul was killed in a boating accident in April 2018.
Girardi won $500,000 for her but today, more than four years after the settlement, she’s still owed a large portion of that.
He also held up Erica Saldana’s $2.5 million settlement which she needed to pay the medical bills for the devastating injuries her one-yer-old son suffered in a car crash.
And Josie Hernandez had to declare bankruptcy because Girardi didn’t pay her the money she was owed from a settlement over a medical device injury.
In all these cases, when the clients called or emailed Girardi to ask when they were going to get their money, he came up with excuses like there was a lien or ‘holdback’ on the settlement, that there was an IRS issue or a judge needed to ‘sign off’ before the money could be paid. All these claims were false.
Jayne seen with ex Girardi and son Tommy Zizzo when he was still a child
‘He lied to his clients over and over and over again about why they weren’t being paid,’ Assistant U.S. Attorney Ali Moghaddas told the court. ‘He lied to them them because he did not want to give them their money because it was gone….it was already spent.
‘Behind the curtain he was pilfering his clients’ funds. It was just cruel to treat victims in this manner.
‘He was buying two private jets while his clients weren’t getting paid…. This this case is a simple and sad story of trust violated and greed.’
