After being accused of stealing over $15 million from former purchasers of his regulation agency, Thomas Girardi will take the stand at a trial later this 12 months after being deemed “competent” by a Los Angeles decide.
Years after Thomas, 84, the estranged husband of Actual Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne, 52, was mentioned to have been recognized with late-onset Alzheimer’s, and following many questions relating to the legitimacy of the analysis, a federal decide discovered him “competent to face trial.”
The Los Angeles Instances reported the information on January 2, noting that Thomas will seem in entrance of a jury someday later this 12 months and face questions concerning the years-long fraud scheme he was operating at Girardi Keese.
In a be aware on the case docket shared Tuesday, it was acknowledged that U.S. District Decide Josephine L. Staton filed an “order discovering defendant competent to face trial.”
Till the attorneys of the events concerned evaluate the notation, the order, which might comprise delicate well being data, has been sealed.
The decide’s ruling comes months after prosecutors filed courtroom paperwork, noting that neuropsychologist Diana Goldstein carried out an investigation into Thomas’ well being and “opined, amongst different issues, that [he] is competent to face trial.”
Across the identical time, prosecutors claimed to have video proof backing up their suspicion that Thomas wasn’t affected by psychological sickness.
“After being criminally indicted for his [years-long] scheme, defendant makes an attempt to keep away from being held to account for his conduct by petitioning this Courtroom to seek out him incompetent to face trial,” they wrote in paperwork, through Radar On-line. “Nevertheless, regardless of defendant’s asserted incompetence, proof of his regular routine instantly main as much as the demise of GK –- years after defendant claims his purported psychological competency points started –- demonstrates that his prompt ‘signs’ are exaggerated – an artfully constructed self-serving portrait of a determine purportedly so diminished as to be past the authorized system’s attain.”
Whereas Erika hasn’t but addressed the information of Thomas being discovered competent to face trial, she mentioned throughout a 2022 episode of Watch What Occurs Dwell that her husband nonetheless thought “he [was] working towards regulation.” And as RHOBH followers might know, Thomas has remained underneath a conservatorship run by his youthful brother, Robert Girardi, since shortly after being accused of stealing cash from those that beforehand employed him to struggle their authorized battles.
The Actual Housewives of Beverly Hills season 13 airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
