Girardi Deemed Competent to Stand Trial in Criminal Fraud Case

Disbarred and indicted plaintiffs’ attorney Thomas Girardi is competent to assist in defending charges he defrauded clients, professionals, and others of millions of dollars, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

Judge Josephine L. Staton of the Central District of California announced her decision in a docket entry, stating there that her underlying order remains under seal pending the parties’ identification of those portions that should remain permanently so.

Prosecutors accused the one-time high-flying attorney of malingering in his bid to avoid trial. Girardi’s federal public defenders argued the former Girardi Keese principal was skilled at hiding his cognitive decline. He was indicted by grand juries in Los Angeles and Chicago one day apart earlier this year.

Girardi faces criminal contempt and wire fraud charges for allegedly embezzling millions of dollars from Girardi Keese clients, co-counsel, and other professionals in the 12-count criminal indictment in Illinois and a five-count criminal indictment in California. The sealed competency reports will be shared with prosecutors and defense counsel in the Chicago litigation.

Judge Mary Rowland of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois agreed Sept. 20 to defer scheduling a trial there pending the outcome of Girardi’s competency hearing at the US District Court for the Central District of California.

Girardi on Sept. 13 swore at a prosecutor during the third day of his compentency hearing. The federal prosecutor said the profane retort shows the ex-attorney understands what’s going on in court.

Evidentiary Standard

Mere cognitive decline isn’t the standard in determining whether a defendant is competent to stand trial, the government said in a post-trial brief. The court need only determine, by a preponderance of the evidence, whether Girardi has a rational and factual understanding of the proceedings and can consult with counsel with a reasonable degree of rational understanding.

The evidence presented at the competency hearing “demonstrated that defendant clearly has a rational and factual understanding of the charges against him, and that he has the capacity to consult meaningfully with his attorneys, if he so chooses. His insistence on being unaware of his legal situation is willful and deliberate. He can opt to participate meaningfully in these proceedings at any time,” the government argued.

Girardi and Christopher Kamon, the firm’s former chief financial officer, were indicted in LA.

Girardi, and Kamon, plus David Lira, a former firm attorney and Girardi’s son-in-law, were charged in Chicago with fraud and criminal contempt in connection with embezzled awards to families of victims who died in the 2018 crash of a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX off the coast of Indonesia.

Creditors forced Girardi Keese and Girardi individually into bankruptcy. More than three-quarters of a billion dollars in claims were made against the firm and individual estate, with dozens of adversary proceedings filed by bankruptcy estate trustees to claw back millions.

The federal Public Defender’s office represents Girardi. The US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California represents the government.

The case is United States v. Girardi, C.D. Cal., No. 2:23-cr-00047, Docket Entry 1/2/24.