Girardi Keese Partners Didn’t Tell Bar of Girardi Memory Issues

Girardi Keese partners for years were worried about indicted and disbarred attorney Thomas Girardi’s memory and told one of Girardi’s business associates, according to testimony Wednesday, though none reported those concerns to the State Bar of California.

The concerns dated back to 2017, said Richard Kraemer, who runs trial presentation business Executive Presentations Inc., on the third day of Girardi’s competency hearing, though those concerns were never officially reported to the State Bar. A probe showing how Girardi infiltrated and corrupted the State Bar published in March rocked public perception of the regulatory agency.

The hearing before Judge Josephine L. Staton in the Central District of California wrapped up Wednesday, but a ruling from Staton won’t come until after both parties file post-hearing briefs over the next few months.

The former Girardi Keese principal was indicted by grand juries in Chicago and Los Angeles and charged in both places for stealing millions from clients. He and his co-defendants have pleaded not guilty. Girardi’s firm went bankrupt, his lawyer disclosed his memory problems, and he was granted a conservator shortly after he was accused of embezzling settlement funds meant for his clients in litigation over the 2018 crash of a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX off the coast of Indonesia.

Richard Marmaro, Girardi’s golf friend and former Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP partner, testified that Girardi didn’t understand in March 2020 that he was in federal court—not state court, where he made his living.

Another witness, Margarita Munoz, director of memory care at the facility where Girardi lives, said employees there are instructed to turn off the TV in Girardi’s room when the news broadcasts stories about his indictment, because they find Girardi crying.

Prosecutors say the timing of Girardi’s cognitive decline is suspicious and that the ex-husband of “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne is faking it to avoid his trial. The defense’s medical experts say he has dementia and has hidden his symptoms well. They have relied in part on brain scans showing atrophy since Girardi’s 2017 car accident.

Girardi cursed at a prosecutor Wednesday morning after the prosecutor played voicemails he’d dredged up from the days just before and just after Girardi’s lawyers began claiming he was incompetent to face charges and had “no appreciation” for the allegations lodged against him in December 2020.

“Don’t be bad to me. I’m a nice guy. I don’t want to have any problems with anybody,” Girardi said in a December 27, 2020 voicemail.

If Girardi is found incompetent in the Los Angeles hearings, prosecutors will most likely dismiss the charges against him because he would not be able to face his accusers or help in his defense.

The federal Public Defender’s office represents Girardi.

The case is USA v. Girardi, C.D. Cal., No. 2:23-cr-00047, hearing 9/13/23.