Government Says It May Drop Charges Against Thomas Girardi

Federal prosecutors in Chicago on Thursday indicated they may dismiss charges that former tort lawyer Thomas V. Girardi stole more than $10 million from clients, due to his August conviction on similar charges in Los Angeles.

Assistant US Attorney Corey Rubenstein told Judge Mary Rowland of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois the government may drop its case alleging Girardi defrauded client victims of a 2018 Lion Air crash, due to Girardi’s Aug. 27 conviction in the US District Court for the Central District of California for defrauding additional clients, including victims of home explosions and defective medical devices.

Girardi, 85, faces up to 80 years’ imprisonment in the California case.

“We are considering whether and how we proceed with a trial of Mr. Girardi at all. If we were going to dismiss, it wouldn’t be until for sure he’s been sentenced and a judgment has been entered” in the California case, Rubenstein said.

“What we’d like to do is to take until after his sentencing in Los Angeles and hopefully it will go away after that,” Rubenstein said.

“Alright. That makes sense,” Rowland said.

Judge Josephine Staton of the US District Court for the Central District of California is scheduled to sentence Girardi Dec. 6. Rowland on Thursday set a hearing for Dec. 19 to discuss the Illinois case.

Crash Victims

Girardi was indicted in Illinois during 2023 on 12 counts of fraud and criminal contempt involving his representation of client victims of Lion Air Flight 610, which crashed into the Java Sea in October 2018, killing all 189 people aboard.

Girardi represented family members of crash victims in lawsuits filed against Boeing Co. in Illinois federal court. The lawsuits were settled for about $11 million. The government alleges funds owed to clients instead went to fund Girardi’s law firm payroll, credit card bills, and other debts.

When asked by clients why he hadn’t forwarded the settlement funds to them, Girardi gave them excuses such as the Covid-19 pandemic and fictitious Boeing Co. distribution approvals, according to the government.

The issue of Girardi’s competency was a key element of his California trial. Girardi’s request to find him incompetent, which would table his trial indefinitely, was rejected by that court. In June Rowland granted Girardi’s Illinois lawyer, Seema Ahmad, the right to move for a competency evaluation of her client despite the California court’s finding that Girardi was competent to stand trial in Los Angeles.

The case is United States v. Girardi, N.D. Ill., No. 23-cr-00054, hearing 9/12/24.