On his 86th birthday, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills husband, Tom Girardi, was sentenced to prison for defrauding his clients.
Off to the clink:
Courtroom News reported, “Judge Josephine Staton ruled that Girardi’s evident mental decline was not so severe that he couldn’t serve his sentence in a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility.”
After a six-week evaluation, forensic psychologist Dr. Brianna Grover testified that the disgraced attorney “doesn’t require inpatient psychiatric care notwithstanding his mental defects. She noted that federal prison facilities make accommodations for elderly inmates suffering from mental health issues.”
It’s about Tom … (‘s) trial:
Erika Jayne Girardi‘s estranged husband briefly took the stand at Monday’s hearing. He thought he was in LA, but he couldn’t recall who the last witness was who testified shortly before. “I will go to the office afterward,” Girardi said, referring to his defunct firm Girardi & Keese. “Someone will pick me up.”
Tom’s very short testimony resulted in an exchange between Staton and Charles Snyder, one of Girardi’s attorneys, to make a record that “Girardi’s trousers fell down as he left the witness stand and he had to pull them back up.”
This left the judge to wonder who dressed him at the closed memory care facility in Southern California, where Girardi has been residing since his arrest. His attorneys have argued that he should serve his sentence at this facility rather than in prison.
“Mr. Girardi is frail and elderly,” Sam Cross, Girardi’s other attorney, told the judge. “He’s not well-equipped to handle the most simple social situations. He’ll be at risk of exploitation and physical assault.”
The judge observed that while Girardi showed some confusion, he readily came forward to testify, knew where he had to go, answered his attorney’s questions politely and acknowledged that he has memory issues. As such, she said, he was in a different category from criminal defendants who suffer from schizophrenia or have extremely violent dispositions.
Sentencing:
“Prosecutors with U.S. attorney’s office in LA are seeking a prison sentence of as long as 14 years. Girardi, once among the most successful and politically connected attorneys in California, was convict ed in August of four counts of wire fraud.”
“Federal prosecutors accused him of running what amounted to a Ponzi scheme, using money from his clients’ settlements to pay off older clients whose money was past due while throwing up a series of elaborate deceptions and obfuscations to keep the newer clients, lawyers and creditors at bay.”
“But much of the money also went to fund his lavish lifestyle, one replete with private jets and exclusive country clubs, to say nothing of his wife Erika Jayne’s entertainment career. Eventually, his firm collapsed under the weight of all those creditors.”
The victims:
The 12-day trial featured testimony from each of the four victims in the case.
- 1. Joe Ruigomez, who was badly burned in a gas line explosion that killed his girlfriend.
- 2. Judy Selberg, whose husband was killed in a boating accident.
- 3. Josefina Hernandez, who was injured by a faulty medical device.
- 4. Erika Saldana, whose 1-year-old baby was injured in a car crash with a drunk driver.
The jury deliberated for just four hours before finding Tom Girardi guilty.
