Tom Girardi has been declared competent to face trial by an L.A. federal decide. The estranged husband of The Actual Housewives of Beverly Hills star, Erika Jayne, is accused of embezzling thousands and thousands of {dollars} from shoppers.
The 84-year-old disgraced lawyer is dealing with a number of counts of wire fraud, a criminal offense carrying a possible jail sentence of as much as 20 years on every depend. In a three-sentence order, U.S. District Decide Josephine Staton wrote that her full order was filed below seal and attorneys have been given 5 days to establish to the decide which parts of the ruling ought to stay sealed.
Girardi was indicted by the U.S. Legal professional for the Central District of California Martin Estrada alongside his regulation agency’s accountant Christopher Kamon for “partaking in a widespread scheme to steal from their shoppers and deceive them to cowl up the fraud.”
The scams have been the topic of Hulu’s 2021 documentary titled The Housewife and the Hustler.
“They allegedly preyed on the very individuals who trusted and relied upon them essentially the most—their shoppers. Actions like those alleged within the indictment carry disrepute upon the authorized career and won’t be tolerated by my workplace,” reads the indictment.
The scheme was set to have run between 2010 via 2020 with greater than $15 million being pocketed. Girardi was a well known lawyer for his function within the real-life Eighties go well with in opposition to utility firm Pacific Gasoline & Electrical that impressed the Oscar-winning 2000 Julia Roberts movie, Erin Brockovich.
CNS contributed to this report.
