Tom Girardi finally took the stand in his fraud trial. The estranged husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ own Erika Jayne avoided this as long as he could. While his defense is perhaps as robust as it possibly could be, things still don’t look great for the former attorney.
Tom’s defense revolves around two main points – his memory loss and his former CFO, Chris Kamon. According to Tom, Chris was the real thief: “He stole a lot of money,” Tom testified. “Obviously, we didn’t know about it … But he was very clever in stealing millions of dollars.”
However, the U.S. attorney against Tom presented evidence to the contrary.
Tom Girardi insists that he would never “take a salary”
On August 22, Tom faced cross-examination during his fraud trial. Courthouse News Service reported the highlights. “The last thing I would do would be to take someone’s money,” Tom confidently said while on the stand. “I wouldn’t think of it.” Tom also repeated the phrase “I don’t take a salary” five times during his 45-minute testimony. “I don’t take a percentage. I work very hard. It’s not like I took the money,” he reemphasized.
As for specific cases against Tom, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ali Moghaddas brought up the Ruigomez family. Tom allegedly told the family their settlement was for $5 million when it was $53 million. “I wouldn’t have said that,” Tom responded. “I didn’t intentionally ever tell anyone the wrong thing.”
When it came to unpaid settlement money, Tom gave regular excuses. He would often say the money was being held by a medical lien or the judge overseeing mediation. When Joe Ruigomez was badly burned by a gas line, Tom claimed Joe had a “drug problem,” and ought not receive all the settlement money at once. He also blamed the retired judge for mediating the case again. “He was very careful … very strict to say, you gotta space the money out.”
Tom Girardi allegedly forgot his attorney’s name during the trial
Prosecutors showed evidence from the IRS that Tom’s company misused money from the Ruigomoez settlement. When money came in from Pacific Gas & Electric, that money would almost immediately go toward paying other clients. When asked directly, Tom said, “I don’t think so. I wasn’t about to go, quote, ‘stealing money.'”
As for another alleged victim, Judy Selberg, Tom once again said, “On Selberg, I remember some of that. There was the drug issue.” There was no evidence for that claim. Joe Ruigomez did admit to a dependency on painkillers after the burning incident, but denied any drug problem, as Tom put it. The defense presented no evidence contradicting Joe.
The U.S. Attorney asked Tom, “You’ve had a career persuading people?” Tom smiled at the jury and said, “We’ll find out.” When Tom’s own lawyer questioned him, the defense emphasized his deteriorating memory. Tom didn’t remember one witness testifying, didn’t remember that his firm closed in 2021, and didn’t remember his own attorney’s name. Allegedly.
