Law firm’s CFO helped ‘Real Housewives’ husband steal millions from clients, feds say
The former head of accounting at a Los Angeles law firm that has since shut down helped personal injury attorney Thomas Girardi steal ten of millions of dollars from clients who were severely hurt, according to federal prosecutors.
Christopher Kazuo Kamon worked with Girardi to defraud Girardi Keese clients owed settlement money from 2010 to December 2020, prosecutors said. Girardi was married to “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne, who filed for divorce from him in November 2020, according to Los Angeles Magazine.
Kamon also embezzled money from Girardi Keese bank accounts to fund “construction projects” at his California residences in Encino and Palos Verdes, according to court documents.
Kamon, 51, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud on Oct. 11, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced in a news release that day.
In August, a federal jury convicted Girardi, 85, who was disbarred in 2022 from practicing law in California, of four counts of wire fraud, prosecutors said.
“Tom Girardi built celebrity status and lured in victims by falsely portraying himself as a ‘Champion of Justice,’” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement when Girardi was convicted. “In reality, he was a Robin-Hood-in-reverse, stealing from the needy to support of a lavish, Hollywood lifestyle.”
Attorneys separately representing Kamon and Girardi didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Oct. 14.
Kamon’s attorney, Michael Severo, spoke to the media after Kamon’s plea hearing, saying Kamon entered a guilty plea because it was “in his best interest,” Law.com reported.
At the “once-prominent” law firm, Kamon supervised Girardi Keese’s accounting department and was in charge of paying the firm’s expenses at Girardi’s direction, according to prosecutors.
“Girardi determined and directed which clients would be paid, how much they would be paid, when they would be paid, and signed all outgoing checks to clients,” prosecutors said.
Instead of paying clients’ their settlement money, Kamon and Girardi embezzled the money to pay the business’ payroll, credit card expenses and personal expenses, according to officials.
Girardi used more than $25 million to fund EJ Global, which was established by his former wife, Jayne, in connection with her entertainment career, prosecutors said in a previous news release.
Personal injury client defrauded
One of the clients defrauded by Kamon and Girardi was represented by Girardi Keese after he was badly burned in a natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno in September 2010, according to prosecutors.
A $53 million settlement was reached in the case — without the client agreeing to it, prosecutors said.
As part of the settlement agreement, $25 million was invested into an annuity and the rest of the money went into a Girardi Keese client trust account, according to prosecutors, who said it was then misused by Girardi with Kamon’s help, according to prosecutors.
Girardi and Kamon put the man’s settlement money toward paying the law firm’s expenses and to pay other clients — who were owed settlement money that had been misspent by Girardi, prosecutors said.
Girardi lied to the man, telling him that his settlement money was sitting in an “interest-bearing account” and “sent lulling payments to the victim as purported ‘interest payments,’” according to prosecutors.
Girardi and Kamon sent the man a $2.5 million purported settlement check in July 2019 — but the money actually belonged to other Girardi Keese clients from other settlements, prosecutors said.
At the time, Girardi “already had spent the victim’s settlement funds through disbursements unrelated to the victim’s case,” according to prosecutors.
Kamon also led an embezzlement scheme from 2013 to December 2020 by stealing the law firm’s money for his “personal enrichment,” prosecutors said.
As part of the scheme, Kamon used funds from the law firm’s bank accounts to pay a “female companion” hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to prosecutors.
In December 2020, the law firm was forced into bankruptcy proceedings by the business’ creditors before the firm “dissolved” the next month, in January 2021, prosecutors said.
Girardi is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 6, according to prosecutors. Kamon’s sentencing is set for Jan. 31, 2025, officials said.
This story was originally published October 14, 2024 at 10:58 AM with the headline "Law firm’s CFO helped ‘Real Housewives’ husband steal millions from clients, feds say."
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