Thomas Girardi was seen leaving court docket on Thursday after taking the stand in his fraud trial.
After being referred to as by his legal professional because the final witness within the case, the 85-year-old now-disbarred legal professional and estranged husband of Actual Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne, 53, was mentioned to have made a “confused-looking” look exterior of the courthouse.
In line with an August 22 report from Day by day Mail, Thomas testified in his personal protection through the listening to, which noticed him denying any wrongdoing as he confronted 4 counts of wire fraud.
Confused-looking Tom Girardi, 85, shuffles out of court docket after testifying at fraud trial https://t.co/LOdNhNMaII pic.twitter.com/yvX7fi8yLA
— Day by day Mail US (@DailyMail) August 22, 2024
As RHOBH followers nicely know, Thomas has been accused of stealing a whopping $15 million in settlement funds from former shoppers of his now-defunct legislation agency, Girardi Keese, between 2010 and 2020. And whereas his group insisted he was unfit to face trial, citing cognitive decline, a decide dominated that he was competent earlier this 12 months.
Throughout his court docket look on Thursday, Thomas pleaded not responsible to all fees, claiming “each shopper obtained each penny that each shopper was purported to get.”
After his former shoppers gave testimonies over the previous two weeks about how they trusted him earlier than shedding thousands and thousands of {dollars}, Thomas took the stand and answered a collection of questions, first from his personal legal professional, Samuel Cross.
After portray Girardi Keese in a optimistic gentle, saying that the previous enterprise, which was in operation for many years, was each profitable and well-respected, and that he was a beneficiant employer to his workers, Thomas instructed the agency was nonetheless open.
“The agency was doing so nicely due to the fantastic individuals who labored there and nonetheless work there,” Thomas mentioned.
“Is your legislation agency nonetheless open, Tom?” his legal professional requested.
“Sure,” he replied.
Then, when the legal professional requested him what his identify was, Thomas mentioned, “I don’t know. Unhealthy, imply, horrible, it’s a kind of.”
Kiki Monique of Instagram‘s The Speak of Disgrace was in attendance, and she or he recalled Thomas stating repeatedly that he was not paid by the agency as a result of he had chosen to place his shoppers’ wants forward of his personal. She additionally revealed he mentioned he labored greater than 50 hours every week, and he had talked about his lawsuit towards Pacific Gasoline & Electrical, which the movie Erin Brockovich was primarily based on, and acknowledged Julia Roberts‘ position within the film.
When his lawyer talked about instances during which he had allegedly misappropriated shopper funds, together with his case for burn sufferer Joseph Ruigomez, he instructed he’d carried out no mistaken.
Judy Selberg, whose husband was the sufferer of a ship accident, advised the court docket that Thomas didn’t reply when she was stiffed settlement funds. In the meantime, Thomas mentioned he didn’t know who was in command of her case.
When accusations of embezzlement have been talked about, Thomas signaled Chris Kamon, his ex-chief monetary officer, saying he was good at stealing massive quantities of cash. He even mentioned that if he had recognized about his former CFO’s alleged theft, he would’ve taken motion towards him.
Throughout a cross-examination from Assistant U.S. Lawyer Ali Moghaddas, Thomas was requested about his well being.
“I don’t know. We’ll discover out,” Thomas replied.
Thomas then denied mendacity to the Ruigomez household in regards to the $53 million settlement he secured on their behalf, which he was accused of suggesting was simply $5 million.
He then accused Joseph and one other shopper of getting drug issues and mentioned he by no means used shopper funds to buy Erika’s jewellery.
Closing arguments can be made within the days forward.
