What to Know About Tom Girardi and the Charges Against the Disgraced Former Lawyer

Thomas Girardi once portrayed a picture of power, wealth and fame.

The former attorney, who ran the Los Angeles law firm Girardi Keese for 55 years, was known for taking on “David v. Goliath” cases, suing large corporations — including Pacific Gas and Electric, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, among others — and extracting huge settlements for his clients.

Girardi was also married to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Girardi, and the two showcased their opulent lifestyle on the reality TV show. The pair often took private jets, showed off their multimillion-dollar mansion in Pasadena, California, and touted expensive jewelry and a $40,000 monthly glam budget. And according to Erika, their riches were the result of decades of hard work.

“Tom did not grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth,” Erika told PEOPLE in 2018. “We both came up the hard way. And we appreciate growth.”

But that lifestyle came to an abrupt halt in November 2020 when Erika filed for divorce from Girardi. Within a month, the former lawyer was tangled in a complicated web of legal controversies: He was accused of embezzling client funds for his own personal spending; he was sued by his former law firm partners; and his law firm was facing bankruptcy.

Since that shocking turn of events, Girardi has been disbarred and charged with federal crimes related to his mistreatment of client funds. In March 2021, he was diagnosed with dementia and late-onset Alzheimer's disease and was later moved into an assisted living home. He has been residing in a memory care facility since October 2022 due to declining cognitive functions.

So how did Tom Girardi get here? Here’s a closer look at the former attorney’s fall from grace, from his career beginnings to the current charges against him.

Girardi founded his now-defunct law firm Girardi Keese in 1965

Girardi, who was raised in Los Angeles, was inspired to pursue a career in law thanks to the 1950s television show Perry Mason, in which the titular character was a defense attorney, according to Los Angeles Magazine. After receiving his Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School and completing a master’s degree in law at New York University, Girardi started his own law firm, Girardi Keese, in L.A. in 1965. But instead of the legal defense work he watched on Perry Mason, Girardi’s focus as a young lawyer was on personal injury cases — many of which were referred to him by his connections in the legal world.

“Initially I relied on friends who were a couple of years ahead of me who would send me cases,” Girardi told Attorney at Law Magazine in 2015. “Every once in a while, criminal defense attorney Bob Courtney would get a dog bite or slip-and-fall case and would send those to me. ... This is how I built my early practice.”

Girardi quickly made a name for himself, particularly in medical malpractice cases. By 1970, he had secured a malpractice verdict of $1.4 million — the largest of its kind in California at that time, L.A. Magazine reported.

Girardi won millions in settlements for his clients

Following his success with medical malpractice, Girardi excelled in another area of personal injury law called “toxic torts” — lawsuits aiming at compensation for hazardous exposure to chemicals and pollutants. For more than 50 years, he took on lawsuits against major corporations, Ford and Merck, among others. Girardi won over 30 verdicts of $1 million or more and over 100 settlements of $1 million or more during his career, according to The National Trial Lawyers organization.

“Lots of times, insurance companies would settle with him on reputation alone,” attorney Philip Sheldon told L.A. Magazine.

Girardi’s case against Pacific Gas and Electric inspired the 2000 film Erin Brockovich

In 1993, Girardi took on one of his most famous cases. He was part of the legal team representing hundreds of Hinkley, California, residents in a class-action lawsuit against Pacific Gas and Electric. The residents claimed that their drinking water had been contaminated by a leaking natural gas compressor station, resulting in cancer and other illnesses. Girardi and the legal team helped secure a $333 million settlement from PG&E, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The PG&E case inspired the 2000 movie Erin Brockovich, which starred Julia Roberts as Brockovich, the paralegal and environmental activist who helped originate the lawsuit. Besides winning Roberts an Academy Award in 2001, the film also greatly boosted Girardi’s profile.

“All of a sudden, I was part of a very public win that a lot of people understood,” Girardi said in 2020, according to the L.A. Times. “The case did me an awful lot of good, to put me into a category that, ‘Hey, you know this guy can handle these big cases.’ ”

He married RHOBH star Erika Girardi in January 2000

Girardi met Erika in the late 1990s at Chasen’s — a Beverly Hills restaurant where Girardi was a regular, and Erika was a waitress. At the time, she was in her late 20s, newly divorced with a young son; Girardi was 32 years older.

“Marriage was the furthest thing from my mind,” Erika later told PEOPLE about meeting Girardi. But the pair developed a fast friendship, and just months after their first date, she had moved in with the attorney.

The two married in January 2000 at the Los Angeles Country Club, the L.A. Times reported. It was Erika's second marriage and Girardi’s third — and despite Girardi’s success as an attorney and his previous acrimonious divorces, he did not sign a prenuptial agreement.

“Everyone thought I was marrying him to have a baby and lock down the money, as ugly as that sounds,” Erika told PEOPLE of their age difference.

But according to Erika, their love was genuine. “It really was two people coming together who really enjoy each other’s company,” she added.

Erika filed for divorce in November 2020 — and the former couple were sued for embezzlement a month later

Girardi’s personal and professional life began to crumble near the end of 2020 when Erika filed for divorce.

“After much consideration, I have decided to end my marriage to Tom Girardi,” Erika said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. “This is not a step taken lightly or easily. I have great love and respect for Tom and for our years and the lives we built together.”

She continued: “It is my absolute wish to proceed through this process with respect and with the privacy that both Tom and I deserved. I request others give us that privacy as well.”

One month after Erika filed for divorce, the former couple were sued for allegedly embezzling money meant for Girardi’s clients. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of several families who lost loved ones in the Lion Air Flight 610 crash, claimed that Girardi and Erika embezzled at least $2 million in settlement funds meant for families of those killed in the crash — a case Girardi settled against Boeing in 2019.

“Tom has resorted to embezzling the proceeds of settlements that should have been directed to his clients — including, as the basis for this Complaint, the widows and orphans who lost loved ones in the tragic crash of Lion Air Flight 610 — in order to continue funding his and Erika’s lavish Beverly Hills lifestyles,” read the complaint obtained by PEOPLE.

The suit also alleged that Girardi and his law firm were on the “verge of financial collapse” and that Girardi’s divorce was “simply a sham” to protect their money from those looking to collect debts.

Girardi was placed under a conservatorship after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s

Girardi’s younger brother Robert Girardi became the official conservator of Girardi’s person and estate in July 2021.

Four months earlier, Girardi was diagnosed with dementia and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease after undergoing a mental assessment as part of Robert’s petition to become his brother’s conservator.

During a June 2021 hearing, Girardi spoke out against the conservatorship.

“Obviously, I disagree with the conservatorship altogether,” the attorney told the court, according to Law360.

But despite those statements, the judge later found that Girardi “consents and does not object” to the conservatorship, which left Robert responsible for his brother’s care and estate.

“It's obviously a heartbreaking situation for Robert, but we agree with the court’s rulings,” Robert’s lawyer, Nicholas Van Brunt, said in a statement to PEOPLE at the time.

Girardi was disbarred in August 2021 amid numerous claims of stealing clients’ funds

As complaints against him mounted, Girardi was officially disbarred by the California federal court in August 2021. According to documents obtained by PEOPLE, Girardi did not contest the decision.

The disbarment came following multiple stories of Girardi misappropriating client money. The 2021 documentary The Housewife and the Hustler revealed that, in addition to the Lion Air lawsuit, Girardi had been sued by Joe Ruigomez and his family, who claimed in the lawsuit that Girardi had swindled them out of millions in settlement funds. The documentary revealed that Ruigomez and his family previously hired Girardi to sue PG&E, which owned the San Bruno gas pipeline, the explosion of which left Ruigomez critically injured in 2010.

In 2013, Girardi settled the multimillion-dollar lawsuit for the Ruigomez family and Ruigomez claimed he suggested they place the funds in one of his investments and dispense the money monthly, according to the documentary. By 2017, Ruigomez claimed the payments had “disappeared completely,” and the family sued Girardi for the rest of the money. In a deposition with Ruigomez’s new lawyer in September 2020, Girardi admitted he was broke.

“At one point, I had about 80 million or 50 million in cash,” Girardi said in the deposition. “That’s all gone. I also had a stock portfolio of about 50 million, and that’s all gone.”

In another instance, Girardi won a $17 million settlement for 138 women who claimed they developed cancer after taking hormone replacement therapy. In 2014, 28 of those women or their families sued Girardi and his law firm, claiming they had not disclosed the terms of the settlement and misappropriated more than $10 million of their settlement funds, the L.A. Times reported. Girardi borrowed $17 million from two different lenders before settling with the plaintiffs.

“Taking your client’s funds is the professional equivalent of touching an electrified rail,” Shanin Specter, a Philadelphia trial attorney who once served as co-counsel with Girardi, told The New York Times. “It’s professional suicide.”

Girardi’s former law firm owes over $500 million to creditors

As of March 2022, the Girardi Keese firm owed its creditors more than half a billion dollars.

The firm’s creditors filed involuntary bankruptcy petitions against Girardi Keese in December 2020, and the firm was defunct by January 2021. Case filings obtained by PEOPLE in August 2021 originally indicated that the firm was more than $100 million in debt.

Further documents obtained by PEOPLE showed that 522 claims had been filed against the now-defunct law firm, amounting to more than $517 million. The money owed comprises $363 million in unsecured claims, $17 million in priority claims, $137 million in secured claims and $250,000 in administrative claims.

Girardi Keese began auctioning off items in August 2021 to help pay off their creditors. The items included a Cadillac, vintage books, a piano, wine, art, Oriental rugs, sports and music memorabilia and furniture. A poster of Julia Roberts from Erin Brockovich was also slated to be auctioned off.

Erika was also named in the bankruptcy petitions. In June 2021, creditors accused the Real Housewives star of refusing to turn over bank records and other financial documents to the bankruptcy trustees. The court ruled in favor of the creditors, and Erika was required to submit any “key documents,” including pay stubs, bank statements and any emails and text messages pertaining to her finances.

Girardi was investigated for over 200 disciplinary matters before being disbarred

Though Girardi was once considered one of the top trial lawyers in the country, the State Bar of California revealed in November 2022 that the former attorney was investigated for more than 200 disciplinary matters over the past 40 years.

According to an open letter from the agency, those “disciplinary matters” included allegations of client trust account violations, misrepresentations to courts and clients, failure to communicate with clients and failure to perform, among other claims.

“Over the past 40 years, the State Bar opened 205 disciplinary matters about Girardi,” the letter read. “Of the 205 matters, approximately 120 involved allegations relating to client trust account violations."

“Of these 205 disciplinary matters, the State Bar received 69 complaints on or after December 18, 2020, when a petition was filed to force Girardi's law firm into bankruptcy. Nearly 60 of those recent complaints alleged client trust account violations,” the letter continued.

The letter also highlighted “serious failures” in the State Bar’s attorney disciplinary system, acknowledging the organization’s role in Girardi’s wrongdoings.

“Girardi caused irreparable harm to hundreds of his clients, and the State Bar could have done more to protect the public,” the letter read.

An L.A. Times investigation showed that Girardi had close relationships and connections with several bar officials — which allegedly allowed him to stay in the State Bar’s good graces, despite the numerous complaints against him. According to sworn testimonies, Girardi provided bar officials and their families with expensive meals, private jet rides, free legal work and even jobs at Girardi Keese.

Girardi was indicted on federal fraud charges in February 2023

The disgraced former lawyer was indicted on fraud charges for allegedly stealing from the families of the Lion Air Flight 610 crash victims.

He was charged with eight counts of wire fraud and four counts of criminal contempt of court, according to documents obtained by PEOPLE. Additionally, two former Girardi Keese employees, attorney David R. Lira and accounting and finance department head Christopher K. Kamon, were both charged with 12 criminal counts.

Girardi, Lira and Kamon were accused of stealing more than $3 million of the settlement funds meant for the victims’ families and using it for “improper purposes, including paying the firm’s payroll and operating expenses, and funding settlements to other Girardi Keese clients,” according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Illinois.

Despite Girardi’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, a neuropsychologist found Girardi competent to stand trial in June 2023, according to the L.A. Times. A hearing was scheduled for Aug. 23, 2023, to further determine the former lawyer’s competency.