'Justice for the victims': Internet slams 'RHOBH' star Erika Jayne's ex Tom Girardi for pretending to have dementia to 'escape' wire fraud lawsuit
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: 'RHOBH' alum Thomas Vincent Girardi, who previously married to Erika Jayne, was declared competent to stand trial for allegedly embezzling more than $15 million from legal clients.
The Central District of California, Josephine L Staton announced that the filing defendant (Girardi) is competent to stand trial. Erika Jayne, on the other hand, seems to have escaped being trapped in this legal issue.
The once prominent lawyer is now webbed in legal battles with a potential prison sentence of 20 years. He was disbarred from the State Bar of California in July 2022. During the peak of his career, he was one of the nation's most prominent plaintiffs attorneys.
In the order entered on January 2, 2024, the attorney found Tom Girardi competent to stand trial for the five counts of wire fraud and he can face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The charges are about five of Tom's clients and alleged that he engaged in a fraudulent scheme, whereas Tom negotiated the settlement on behalf of clients. He concealed the settlement's true terms and lied about the disposition of the settlement proceeds.
Tom wanted to escape trial stating his sickness 'Dementia and late-set Alzheimer's' disease diagnosed back in March 2022. But after thorough investigations by the court, he was deemed 'fit' for trials.
However, the internet feels it was a filthy way of escaping the trails. They took to the comments section of an Instagram post and slammed him. One social media user wrote, "He claimed incompetence and now he's acting like his own attorney."
Another seemed shocked and stated he might have been faking his medical condition and wrote, "So he doesn't have dementia?"
A user seemed particularly happy and said, "YES!!!!! All the rats are going to be scurrying now and Tom’s going to take them all down with him!"
Some users were elated by the news, with one user exclaiming, "Wow! I was hoping for this but im still shocked."
Another just stated, "Justice for the victims."
Why did Erika Jayne and Tom Girardi split?
Erika Jayne opened up about her split with Tom Giradi after 21 years of marriage. She felt financially constrained as she complained in an episode of 'The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills'.
She mentioned how she had to let go of her luxury lifestyle such as the Lamborghini, 16,000 square foot home, and others. She revealed that she waited for long for things to go back to normal but it didn't.
She did not enjoy the uncertainty and instability in her life and often cried about it. Erika filed for divorce in 2020 just weeks after the Season 11 filming. Recently, she was bashed for using Ozempic for weight loss and made her debut in TikTok before the Las Vegas musical tour for which she was even slammed by the fans.
What are the charges against Tom Girardi?
Once equipped with fame and wealth, former attorney Tom Girardi is struggling with several legal battles. Just a month after Jayne and Giradi's divorce, the pair were named in a class action lawsuit that accused Giradi's former law firm, Giradi Reese, of misusing funds designated for families of plane crash victims.
Erika Jayne even slammed a $25 million lawsuit against Tom Girardi. In July 2023, Erika Jayne met with multiple individuals who accused Giradi of misusing their settlement money.
The disgraced former lawyer is facing federal criminal wire fraud charges in Los Angeles and Chicago as he diverted millions in client's money to fund his lavish lifestyle.
He also pleaded not guilty and his attorneys stated initially that Giradi was not competent to stand trial due to dementia. He is bankrupt and is represented by taxpayer-funded lawyers.
He was charged with eight counts of wire fraud and four counts of criminal contempt of court. Two former Girardi Keese employees, attorney David R Lira and accounting and finance department head Christopher K Kamon, were both charged with 12 criminal courts.
The three of them have been accused of stealing $15 million of the settlement funds made for the families of the victims of the Lion Air Flight 610 crash.
'RHOBH' alum Erika Jayne and ex-Tom Girardi involved in fake credit card fraud against designer
A Hollywood costume designer said in a lawsuit that disbarred attorney Tom Girardi and his ex Erika Jayne bribed a former US Secret Service official to pursue false charges of credit card fraud against him.
Designer Christopher Psaila claimed in the Los Angeles federal lawsuit that Girardi conspired with ex-Los Angeles office chief Robert Savage to 'weaponize' the agency by prosecuting him over legitimate charges he billed Erika in 2015 and 2016.
The financially struggling couple took such nasty ways to gain some financial help. The lawsuit also named American Express as a defendant. They refunded $787,000 based on her false claims of credit card fraud.