Disbarred lawyer Tom Girardi has smaller hippocampus than 98% of population, neurologist testifies
Attorney Tom Girardi is pictured outside a Los Angeles courthouse in July 2014. A neurology professor testified last week that Girardi has such a small brain hippocampus that 98% of people likely have a larger one. (Photo by Damian Dovarganes/The Associated Press)
Updated: A neurology professor testified last week that disbarred lawyer Tom Girardi has such a small brain hippocampus that 98% of people likely have a larger one.
Helena Chang Chui, the chair of the neurology department at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, testified Thursday in Girardi’s embezzlement trial in Los Angeles, Law360 reports.
A 2021 MRI showed the atrophy of Girardi’s hippocampus, which is responsible for recording new memories.
“I cannot remember seeing anyone in my practice with a hippocampus this small having a normal memory,” Chui said.
Girardi’s lawyers contend that he has dementia, despite being found competent to stand trial in January for allegedly stealing $15 million from four clients. The lawyers attribute Girardi’s inability to keep track of money and his excuses for failure to pay clients to declining cognitive abilities.
On cross-examination, federal prosecutor Ali Moghaddas noted that Girardi’s alleged fraud began as early as 2010, while Chui was “hyper-focused” on 2017 through 2021, according to Law360. People close to Girardi reported that he appeared to have more memory issues after he was involved in a car accident in 2017.
When Girardi took the witness stand this week, he insisted that “every client got every penny” that they were supposed to get.
Law360, the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Journal covered Girardi’s Aug. 22 testimony.
Girardi blamed his former chief financial officer, Christopher Kamon, for financial problems at his now-collapsed law firm Girardi Keese. He denied misconduct in specific cases, saying he never told one client that his settlement was $5 million when it was actually $53 million.
When Moghaddas pressed for more information, Girardi said the client had drug problems, and he was acting in the client’s best interest by withholding funds. Asked about a claim that a mediator was holding up the money, Girardi said it was true.
Girardi said he works hard, he doesn’t take a salary, and Girardi Keese “was doing so well because of the wonderful people who worked there and still work there.”
Later, Girardi’s public defender, Samuel Cross, asked Girardi whether his firm, which closed in 2020, is still open.
Girardi said it was, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“Tom, what’s my name?” Cross asked.
“I don’t know,” Girardi replied. “Bad, mean, terrible, it’s one of those.”
Girardi was part of the successful legal team portrayed in the film Erin Brockovich, a fact that he remembered during his testimony. His estranged wife is Erika Girardi, who has appeared on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reality TV show.
Earlier this week, the focus was on Kamon, who is charged in California with facilitating the $15 million embezzlement.
Kamon’s ex-fiancee, Nicole Rokita, testified that Kamon asked her to flee to the Bahamas with him in 2022. She declined the invitation.
Rokita said she broke up with Kamon in October 2018, when she discovered financial documents suggesting that Kamon’s largesse and lavish spending habits were funded by Girardi Keese.
Kamon was giving her $20,000 per month, had renovated their home, was building a restaurant for her to run, and had about a dozen side businesses, Rokita said. One of them provided “portable stripper pole rental services,” she said.
Updated Aug. 19 at 8:05 p.m. to reflect a rewritten headline. Updated Aug. 22 at 4:05 p.m. to include additional testimony from this week.
