Girardi, His Ex-CFO Kamon to Have Separate California Trials

A California federal judge split disbarred plaintiffs’ lawyer Tom Girardi’s trial from that of his co-defendant, ex-Girardi Keese CFO Christopher Kamon, reasoning that the former’s expected defense strategy would likely bias the jury against his co-defendant.

Although the allegations that Girardi’s main fraud was aided and abetted by Kamon would normally merit a joint trial, their anticipated defenses would work “such that each will tend to act as a ‘second prosecutor’ of the other,” US District Judge Josephine L. Staton in the Central District of California wrote in her Wednesday ruling.

Each would need to defend against two different, competing ...