Erika Jayne’s estranged husband has lastly realized his destiny.
Tom Girardi, 86, has been sentenced to seven years and three months in jail for embezzling hundreds of thousands of {dollars} from his former shoppers, NBC Information reported on Tuesday.
The disgraced lawyer was additionally reportedly ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution to his victims, in addition to a $35K effective.
Girardi’s sentencing comes practically one yr after he was discovered responsible of 4 counts of wire fraud in a Los Angeles federal court docket in August 2024.
The previous powerhouse lawyer, who ran the now-closed Girardi Keese legislation agency, was accused of stealing greater than $15 million in settlement funds from his shoppers from October 2010 to late 2020.
A number of of his victims have been the family members of these killed within the 2018 Lion Air crash, which claimed the lives of all 189 folks onboard.
“Girardi sent lulling communications to the defrauded clients that, among other things, falsely denied that the settlement proceeds had been paid and falsely claimed that Girardi Keese could not pay the settlement proceeds to clients until certain purported requirements had been met,” the US Lawyer’s Workplace for the Central District of California stated in a information launch upon Girardi’s sentencing.
“These bogus requirements included addressing supposed tax obligations,” the workplace continued, “settling bankruptcy claims, obtaining supposedly necessary authorizations from judges and satisfying other debts.”
Federal prosecutors added that Girardi, whose 1993 groundwater contamination lawsuit towards Pacific Fuel and Electrical Co. impressed the 2000 movie “Erin Brockovich,” used his superstar standing to steal cash from shoppers.
“This self-proclaimed ‘champion of justice’ was nothing more than a thief and a liar who conned his vulnerable clients out of millions of dollars,” Bilal Essayli, who serves because the US Lawyer for the Central District of California, stated.
Girardi’s sentencing comes weeks after Jayne, who filed for divorce from the previous lawyer in 2020 after 21 years of marriage, broke her silence on his wire fraud conviction.
“I could have never saw this coming,” the 53-year-old “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star stated in March. “Tom was loved, he was admired, he was accomplished. And this is how his story ended.”
“I don’t know that I’ll ever get over that,” she added.
Jayne was in London when her estranged hubby was sentenced, and he or she talked about “picking yourself up after dark times” in an interview with Vogue UK printed on Tuesday.
“We all go through things – you have to realize that you’re not the only one,” she stated. “And you have to find the will to take baby steps until you feel more comfortable, and those baby steps might last for a long time.”
Though the “RHOBH” star was initially named in an embezzlement lawsuit towards Girardi in 2020, she was later dismissed from the criticism in 2022.
Girardi, who allegedly suffers from Alzheimer’s illness, was ordered to give up to federal authorities by July 17.
The Put up has reached out to Jayne’s rep for remark.