Tom Girardi, ex-husband of RHOBH star Erika Jayne, is expected to stand trial
Disgraced attorney Tom Girardi deemed fit to stand trial for stealing $18 million from clients despite Alzheimer’s diagnosis: Ex of RHOBH star Erika Jayne set for August hearing
- A court-appointed pyschologist evaluated Tom Girardi, 84, and confirmed he was mentally competent to stand trial, two years after being deemed unfit
- Girardi is due to appear in federal court on August 3
- The mock lawyer, who co-founded the now-bankrupt Girardi & Keese, was featured on the Bravo reality show ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’
Disgraced attorney Tom Girardi, ex-husband of RHOBH star Erika Jayne, has been cleared to stand trial for embezzling $18 million from clients, including victims of the Lion Air crash.
Dr. Diane Goldstein, a court-appointed psychologist, evaluated Girardi, 84, and confirmed he was mentally competent to appear in court at his Aug. 3 federal trial despite a previous diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
The sham lawyer, who co-founded the now-bankrupt Girardi & Keese, was featured on the Bravo reality show “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” along with 51-year-old Jayne, his third wife.
The couple were together for 21 years and are in the middle of a divorce that has been postponed since the law firm filed for bankruptcy in 2021. He was suspended from his profession in 2022 following allegations of misappropriation of funds.
Prosecutors alleged that he lied to his clients and defrauded them of more than $18 million between 2010 and 2020 — $3 million of that money would go to the families of the victims of the 2018 Lion Air Flight 610 crash in Indonesia.
Disgraced attorney Tom Girardi leaves the federal courthouse in February 2023
He was seen on Bravo’s reality show, ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’, alongside Erika Jayne, 51, Girardi’s third wife
Girardi was charged in February with five counts of telephony fraud. He was also charged in a second criminal case, filed in Chicago, where he faces eight additional counts of telephony fraud. The offense carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
He remains free on $250,000 bond.
Others involved in the plan include Christopher Kamon, the former company’s 49-year-old chief financial officer, who faces similar charges as Girardi, and David Lira, Girardi’s son-in-law.
Federal prosecutors revealed last week in a police report written by neuropsychologist Dr. Diana Goldstein that she ‘has completed her research and believed that, among other things [Girardi] competent to stand trial,” she wrote.
It is unclear the basis for that conclusion and its full analysis.
Goldstein’s report has been sealed and partially edited by Girardi’s lawyers, and even the prosecutors who detained her have no access to the full document. Yahoo News reported.
California forensic and clinical psychiatrist Dr. Nathan Lavid wrote in an affidavit that Girardi suffered from late onset Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, the news outlet reported.
Girardi’s brother, Robert, acted as conservator on his brother’s behalf after the Girardi underwent a mental evaluation in February 2021. The New York Post reported.