Four Girardi Keese Lawyers Named as Targets as Prosecution Rests

The federal government is investigating four senior lawyers who worked at the now-bankrupt Girardi Keese firm, an IRS special agent testified Monday shortly before federal prosecutors rested their case against Thomas V. Girardi.

Robert Finnerty, Christopher Aumais, Keith Griffin, and Girardi’s son-in-law David Lira have received target letters from the federal government, meaning they could be charged with a crime, said IRS Special Agent Ryan Roberson, although he didn’t specify when the letters were sent. Prosecutors rested their case at 11:30 a.m., after nearly two weeks of testimony in the US District Court for the Central District of California.

Roberson’s multi-day testimony stems from a detailed analysis of bank records showing how client settlement funds ran through business accounts and to other clients missing their funds. It has threaded together the testimony of witnesses that said they were defrauded by Girardi, who fed them excuses to explain why their settlement payments hadn’t come.

Girardi’s lawyer, Charles Snyder, presented evidence that Girardi fell for a scam around 2019. Roberson said that his review of letters sent to clients and false statements about interest-bearing accounts, told him what he needed to know about Girardi’s state of mind at the time of the charges — and that Girardi being scammed wasn’t relevant.

The case against Girardi squarely rests on funds entering and exiting the client trust accounts, clients not getting paid, and lies told by Girardi to clients to during the course of the scheme, Roberson said.

The scam “just didn’t hold the same weight as what was being told directly to the clients,” Roberson said.

The Four Lawyers

The California State Bar has already sought to disbar Griffin and Lira, who were both sent target letters according to Roberson. Lira was charged with a felony in Illinois. Aumais doesn’t appear to have a disciplinary record with the lawyer regulatory body.

Kathleen Ruigomez, one of the former Girardi Keese clients at the center of the case, said from the witness stand Aug. 7 that Finnerty helped conceal information about missing settlement payments from her.

“Your irrational outbursts and refusal to deal with client payments cannot continue,” Finnerty said in an email to Girardi in April 2019. “You have created an intolerable working situation wherein we are confronted each day with requests for payment by clients, referring attorneys and vendors.”

The jury saw on Thursday an email to Lira from ex-CFO Christopher Kamon that in March 2020, the firm was fielding irate calls from clients who hadn’t been paid their settlements. Kamon responded that the situation was “bad.”

“Worse than bad,” Lira wrote back. “Tom is lying to clients.”

‘A Rich Guy’

Snyder on Roberson’s cross-examination tried to poke holes in Roberson’s investigation and the charts referenced during his testimony.

He asked Roberson why the government had singled out Girardi’s payments to country clubs in charts that showed funds flowing from the trust accounts, to the business account, into Girardi’s personal account. One of the clubs listed was The Plantation Golf Club.

Girardi is legitimately entitled to fees and costs from settlements, Snyder said.

“You chose country clubs because it makes him seem like a rich guy?” Snyder said.

The case is USA v. Girardi, C.D. Cal., No. 2:23-cr-00047, 8/15/24.