LOS ANGELES — Six weeks before Tom Girardi’s criminal trial in Los Angeles is scheduled to begin, federal prosecutors revealed that they intend to introduce key evidence: that the disgraced former attorney allegedly spent more than $25 million of client and law firm money on the career of his reality TV star wife. Until now, Erika Girardi – a mainstay of Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” – has rarely been mentioned in her estranged husband’s federal prosecution. Tom Girardi – once a superstar plaintiffs attorney and influential Democratic Party donor – and his law firm’s former chief financial officer are accused of stealing $15 million from several clients in a years-long scheme.
In a court filing Friday, prosecutors said they plan to show the jury evidence that Tom Girardi misappropriated far more than that from his law firm, Girardi Keese, and his clients, including the $25 million they allege he diverted to cover the “illegitimate expenses” of EJ Global LLC, a company he formed for his wife’s entertainment career. “By directing Girardi Keese accounting personnel to make these payments for the benefit of EJ Global, defendant (Tom) Girardi knowingly and intentionally funneled payments sourced from client funds for the improper personal enrichment of his family members,” prosecutors wrote in their filing. No underlying evidence was included in the filing, and it’s unclear how prosecutors plan to prove their assertion.
They did not m.
