Girardi’s Lawyers Say Neuroimaging Proves Dementia Diagnosis

Disbarred plaintiff’s attorney Thomas Girardi‘s “ability to learn and retain new information is practically nonexistent,” making him incompetent to stand criminal prosecution, his attorneys told a California federal judge.

Redacted versions of Girardi’s motion for an order of incompetency and related reply brief were filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California on Monday.

Prosecutors have alleged that Girardi is malingering to avoid criminal prosecution on wire fraud charges, but his lawyers say the claim is based on views of experts who are unqualified.

The accusation that Girardi is somehow faking it “ignores all of the prior medical and mental health professionals who have diagnosed Mr. Girardi with dementia and instead proffers the opinions of their go-to out-of-state experts, Drs. Ryan Darby and Diana Goldstein,” they say.

Darby is a neurologist, not a neuropsychologist or neuropsychiatrist, and as such, isn’t qualified to render an opinion on his competency. And Goldstein, although a neuropsychologist, lacks the expertise to conduct a forensic evaluation of a geriatric patient, according to Girardi’s legal team.

Dementia Diagnosis

The performance validity tests—even those administered by the government’s experts—don’t show malingering, they say.

They also claim that neuroimaging demonstrates that he’s suffering from dementia.

“The severe atrophy of Girardi’s hippocampi, which is the epicenter of episodic memory, places him in the bottom percentile expected for his age. And his judgment and ability for rational decision making is severely impaired. Girardi’s frontal lobes, which manage executive functioning, also show significant volume loss,” they say.

They also say that evidence of his atrophying brain and cognitive decline existed before any criminal investigations were launched.

They point to, among other things, a 2017 car accident. Although some of the description of the event is redacted, it says that doctors noticed brain impairment, and that his friends and family noticed subsequent changes in his behavior.

“After the accident, he could no longer attend to his basic needs,” the filings say.

One of his long-time friends said he started repetitively calling people to ask questions he’d already asked many times and had trouble remembering places he’d been or people he’d recently met. He also started filling in the “obvious memory gaps with stories inconsistent with reality,” a phenomenon known as confabulation.

Girardi was indicted in January on claims that he embezzled from his now-defunct firm’s clients and faces five counts of fire fraud. The firm’s former CFO, Christopher Kamon, is also a defendant in the case.

Girardi’s competency hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in the US District Court for the Central District of California.

He is represented by public defenders.

The case is United States v. Girardi, C.D. Cal., No. 2:23-cr-00047, redacted filings 8/22/23.