How Erica Jayne's ex Tom Girardi used millionaire clients' funds as 'personal piggy banks' - as Real Housewives' 'trial of the century' kicks off By Neil Blincow In Los Angeles For Dailymail.com Published: 06:30 BST, 7 August 2024 | Updated: 06:51 BST, 7 August 2024 e-mail View comments Disgraced attorney Tom Girardi - estranged husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne - used money belonging to clients' like a 'personal piggy bank' while swindling them out of millions of dollars in settlement funds, a federal court in Los Angeles heard Tuesday. In one case of a man badly injured in a house explosion, Girardi won a huge settlement of $53 million - but he told his client victim that the settlement was only $7 million, jurors were told during opening statements on the first day of a trial that’s expected to last a week.
Girardi, 85, - who built a powerhouse legal firm after his fight against a California utility giant that inspired the Oscar-winning movie Erin Brockovich - is charged with four counts of wire fraud, which he's pleaded not guilty to. A fifth wire fraud charge against him was dismissed last week. Appearing in court Tuesday in a gray jacket, khaki pants, blue open-neck shirt and white tennis shoes, Girardi showed little emotion and instead staring for long periods at the jury of seven men and five women opposite him in the courtroom.
US District Judge Josephine Staton has declared Girardi 'competent to stand trial', despite his dementia diagnos.