Girardi Illinois Trial to Wait for California Competency Ruling

An Illinois criminal case against disgraced and debarred lawyer Thomas Girardi will wait as a judge in California decides whether Girardi is competent to stand trial there.

Judge Mary Rowland of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois agreed on Wednesday to hold off from scheduling an Illinois trial for Girardi on related charges, as the outcome of a three-day trial on Girardi’s competency in California is pending.

“Let’s see what happens,” Rowland said.

Rowland ordered Assistant US Attorney Corey Rubenstein and defense attorney Seema Ahmad to file a joint report by Dec. 8 describing developments in both cases. She set a status hearing in her courtroom for Jan. 18.

Girardi’s competency hearing in Los Angeles ended Sept. 13; a court ruling could take months.

The former principal of the Girardi Keese law firm was indicted by grand juries in Chicago and Los Angeles and accused of stealing with two others at least $15 million from clients between 2010 and 2020.

The defendants “knowingly misappropriated and caused to be misappropriated settlement funds” belonging to the clients and diverting those funds for business operational expenses and to pay off the settlements of other clients. Girardi and his co-defendants pleaded not guilty.

Rubenstein said the government would accept the California court’s decision. “We’re willing to be bound by that,” he said. But the government would want the ability to file supplemental materials, he said.

Ahmad stopped short of agreeing to accept the outcome of the California case, saying that her defense of Girardi may not rely on the California court’s ruling.

“I can’t say I’ll take whatever they will do,” she said.

The case is USA v. Girardi, N.D. Ill., No. 23-cr-00054, hearing 9/20/23.