Girardi’s Lawyer to Get Sealed California Reports, Judge Orders

Sealed reports evaluating the competency of Thomas V. Girardi must be provided to the disbarred lawyer’s counsel in Illinois, where he faces charges of stealing client funds.

US District Judge Mary M. Rowland said Wednesday that three of four reports that evaluated Girardi’s competency to stand trial must be provided. The four reports were filed June 5 and June 6 in a criminal case in the US District Court for the Central District of California alleging Girardi stole millions of dollars from his clients. He faces related criminal charges in Illinois.

Assistant US Attorney Corey Rubenstein, the lead prosecutor in the related case in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, was provided with the reports but Girardi’s Illinois lawyer, Seema Ahmad, wasn’t. Rowland ordered Rubenstein to send the reports to Ahmad by the end of the day Wednesday.

Rowland’s order was the latest in a cascade of legal troubles for Girardi, who was disbarred after allegedly stealing settlement money from families involved in the Lion Air Flight 610 airplane crash that took the lives of 189 passengers. Girardi, one of his former law partners, and their law firm’s accountant pleaded not guilty to federal lawsuits filed in Illinois and California alleging a massive fraud to steal client funds generated by the Lion Air settlements, which involved a Boeing Co. 737 Max airplane.

In both criminal cases, judges have ordered Girardi, who Ahmad said is residing in an assisted-living facility and suffers from a form of dementia, to undergo a medical evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial. The evaluations were completed and filed with US District Judge Josephine Staton in California. Rubenstein wants to use those evaluations in his Illinois case.

Ahmad told Rowland on Wednesday she wants to reserve the right to object to the Illinois court using the California evaluations if she concludes a second evaluation conducted in Illinois will help Girardi construct a stronger defense for his Illinois trial.

Duplicative Efforts

Rubenstein has argued that a second evaluation would be duplicative. However, Rowland appeared willing to allow a second evaluation for the Illinois proceeding. This was Rowland’s first hearing involving the Girardi case, which was transferred to her by fellow US District Judge Ronald A. Guzman.

Staton said in June that Girardi is competent to stand trial based on the four evaluations conducted in the California case, but objections to that decision will be heard at a hearing scheduled for August in California. Three of those evaluations were filed under seal in California and shared with federal prosecutors in Illinois; litigation is ongoing regarding the fourth one.

Girardi faces a 12-count criminal indictment in Illinois and a five-count criminal indictment in California. Rowland set a status hearing for September in the Illinois case, which presumably will follow the California competency hearing.

Ahmad, Federal Defender Program, represents Girardi. David Lira, Girardi’s law partner at the Girardi Keese law firm and a defendant in the Illinois case, is represented by Damon Cheronis of Cheronis, Parente & Levitt LLC.

The case is USA v. Girardi, N.D. Ill., No. 23-cr-00054, status hearing 6/21/23.