Girardi Trial Set for May, Scope Is ‘Significantly’ Narrowed (1)

Disbarred plaintiffs attorney Thomas Girardi will be put on trial for fraud beginning May 21 in Los Angeles, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.

The date is about nine months sooner than Girardi’s lawyers requested.

Prosecutors plan to “significantly narrow the scope” of the trial so it’s not delayed, said Assistant US Attorney Ali Moghaddas, with the focus on four cases brought by Girardi’s clients. They won’t stray beyond Girardi’s indictment, he said.

The case doesn’t seem “unusually complex,” Judge Josephine Staton of the Central District of California said. “It has been around for quite a while.”

The US Attorney’s ...