Former CFO at Tom Girardi's law firm reaches plea deal, agrees to $3.1M forfeiture
Attorney Tom Girardi is pictured outside a Los Angeles courthouse in July 2014. The former chief financial officer at Girardi’s law firm has reached a deal to plead guilty to two counts of wire fraud that caused losses of at least $3.5 million. (Photo by Damian Dovarganes/The Associated Press)
The former chief financial officer at disbarred lawyer Tom Girardi’s law firm has reached a deal to plead guilty to two counts of wire fraud that caused losses of at least $3.5 million.
Former CFO Christopher K. Kamon agreed to plead guilty, to forfeit $3.1 million and to pay restitution, report Law360 and the Los Angeles Times.
The agreement was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
The plea deal follows Girardi’s August conviction for stealing $15 million from four personal injury clients at his now-collapsed firm, Girardi Keese, over the course of a decade.
Girardi, 85, was famous for his legal team’s portrayal in the film Erin Brockovich and for his marriage to Erika Girardi, who has appeared on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reality TV show. He is now living in an assisted living facility and has a dementia diagnosis. His lawyers are seeking to overturn the conviction for an alleged inability to understand trial proceedings, Law.com reports.
Kamon acknowledges that he worked with Girardi to defraud clients, and that he participated in a “side fraud” scheme involving fraudulent invoices.
A factual statement says Girardi typically called Kamon each morning and asked how much money was in the firm’s bank accounts, including its client trust accounts. When operating accounts were low, Girardi allegedly instructed Kamon to move money out of client trust accounts and label them as attorney fees, even when attorney fees had already been paid.
“This was a common practice at Girardi Keese of which other senior lawyers in the firm were aware,” the statement of facts said.
Sometimes settlement funds belonging to current clients in trust accounts were used to pay other clients whose settlement funds had been stolen, according to the statement of facts.
Kamon and federal prosecutors in Los Angeles disagreed on the amount of the loss. Kamon said the amount is at least $3.5 million and no more than $9.5 million. Prosecutors reserved the right to argue that the amount ranged from more than $9.5 million to less than $25 million.
Kamon did not agree to a particular prison sentence. Money collected from Kamon in the bankruptcy proceedings for Girardi Keese would be credited toward the forfeiture amount.
The potential maximum prison sentence is 40 years. The offenses also carry a potential fine equal to twice the gain or losses resulting from the offenses or the amount of $500,000, whichever is greater.
Kamon, Girardi and a third lawyer are facing separate charges in Chicago for allegedly stealing settlement money from five relatives of victims killed in an October 2018 plane crash.
