Federal prosecutors have warned at the very least 4 legal professionals who labored for years alongside the now-disgraced former lawyer Tom Girardi at his Los Angeles regulation agency that they, too, may face felony costs as a part of an ongoing investigation.
The revelation got here this week within the trial of Girardi, 85, who’s defending towards 4 counts of wire fraud and is accused of perpetrating a decade-long scheme to swindle his shoppers out of greater than $15 million in settlement funds.
Whereas being cross-examined by Girardi’s federal public defender, IRS particular agent Ryan Roberson testified Monday that the federal government had despatched letters notifying 4 attorneys who as soon as labored at Girardi Keese that they had been targets within the felony fraud investigation: Christopher Aumais, Robert Finnerty, Keith Griffin and David Lira.
Though prosecutors objected to the discharge of the boys’s names, U.S. District Choose Josephine L. Staton dominated that questions requested earlier by a prosecutor had opened the door to Girardi’s protection workforce urgent for particulars.
The IRS agent didn’t disclose when the 4 males acquired their so-called “goal letters,” and representatives of the IRS and the U.S. lawyer’s workplace in L.A. declined remark. Aumais, Finnerty and Lira didn’t reply to emails; protection attorneys for Griffin and Lira declined to remark.
The testimony marked the primary public affirmation that prosecutors in L.A. have an lively investigation of extra legal professionals at Girardi’s as soon as legendary, now ignominious Wilshire Boulevard regulation agency. Additional, in designating the boys as targets, prosecutors have decided there’s substantial proof that every is concerned in committing a criminal offense, in accordance with Division of Justice coverage.
Authorized specialists stated the issuance of goal letters signifies the breadth of the felony inquiry into Girardi Keese and elevates the chance of one other wave of costs towards these allegedly concerned.
“A goal letter is an enormous deal. The prosecutor is telling an individual or their lawyer that he thinks the person dedicated a criminal offense, he thinks he can show they dedicated a criminal offense and is contemplating charging them with a criminal offense,” stated Julian André, a former federal prosecutor who dealt with fraud instances within the U.S. lawyer’s workplace, together with that of ex-attorney Michael Avenatti, and is now a companion at McDermott, Will & Emery.
However, André cautioned, “It doesn’t essentially imply there’ll the truth is be costs or that costs are imminent.”
Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor in San Diego who’s now a civil lawyer in L.A., stated that with a high-profile defendant like Girardi — who had extra energy and wealth than the legal professionals underneath him — prosecutors might have wished to go after him first to ship a message to the general public.
“Typically, you wish to go to trial towards the principle goal of your investigation and never attempt everybody collectively as a result of you find yourself having a number of protection legal professionals, all cross-examining every witness. It could possibly decelerate your case, trigger quite a lot of confusion and trigger finger pointing,” Rahmani stated. “You wish to hold it clear in a case like this. I feel if and when Girardi is convicted, I wouldn’t be shocked if different people are indicted or they work out plea offers.”
Lira — Girardi’s son-in-law — has been indicted individually in Chicago. He, Girardi and the regulation agency’s former chief monetary officer, Chris Kamon, are accused of misappropriating $3 million from settlements belonging to widows and orphans of a Boeing 737-Max crash in Indonesia.
Though Girardi is the only defendant now on trial, the names of those different legal professionals — Aumais, Lira, Finnerty and Griffin — have come up repeatedly in testimony and different proof in current days.
Prosecutors, for instance, pointed to an April 2019 e-mail during which Finnerty highlighted the extent of the “disturbing” points inside Girardi Keese and the pervasive delay of funds to shoppers.
“Your irrational outbursts and refusal to take care of shopper funds can not proceed,” Finnerty wrote. “You’ve got created an insupportable working state of affairs whereby we’re confronted every day with requests for cost by shoppers, referring attorneys and distributors. There’s way more to debate and your operating away out of your obligations doesn’t assist.”
Finnerty in the end left Girardi Keese, joined a brand new regulation agency, and represented Joseph Ruigomez in an effort to sue Girardi and gather on tens of millions of {dollars} of settlement cash.
The Ruigomez household rotated and sued Finnerty and his new agency, Abir Cohen Treyzon and Salo, in 2022 and accused them of failing to reveal conflicts of curiosity, amongst different allegations.
Christopher Aumais, left, and David Lira in 2014. Each labored for Girardi Keese and have been knowledgeable they’re targets of an ongoing felony investigation.
(Damian Dovarganes / Related Press)
Girardi’s protection has sought to shift the blame away from their shopper, who suffers from dementia, and onto others on the agency. A workforce of deputy federal public defenders have pointed to indicators that others, just like the CFO, held energy over cash and that legal professionals knew of Girardi’s long-running psychological decline and exploited it.
Jurors had been proven an e-mail during which Girardi instructed his accountant to take away Lira’s title from a checking account in the summertime of 2020 — emphasizing that not simply Girardi held signature authority over agency cash.
Girardi’s protection has additionally emphasised how different legal professionals underneath him dealt with day-to-day duties on hundreds of instances. Most shoppers hardly ever, if ever, interfaced with Girardi.
Erika Saldana, whose toddler was severely injured in a automobile crash brought on by a drunk driver in 2015, testified that she labored intently with Aumais to sue the producer of the automobile seat and the motive force who induced the collision.
Girardi received concerned on the finish, when in 2019 the agency secured a $17.5-million settlement, she stated.
Though Girardi’s agency was to transmit her settlement inside 60 days, she waited and waited for her full quantity. In February 2020, Aumais informed her by way of e-mail that it was in Girardi’s arms as a result of he was proprietor of the agency.
Saldana emailed Aumais once more two months later, explaining that she had “misplaced so many alternatives to purchase a home,” as a result of they hadn’t acquired the total sum of money.
Aumais replied: “As head of the agency Tom has sole management of the settlement funds. He’s the one who distributes and indicators off on checks.”
Saldana stated that she and her husband by no means received the excellent $1 million they had been owed.
Former Girardi Keese lawyer Alexa Galloway testified that she repeatedly requested her supervising lawyer, Griffin, about unpaid cash owed to Judy Selberg, whose husband died in a 2018 boating accident.
Galloway testified that she went to the agency’s companions daily asking if the settlement had been paid. Griffin knowledgeable her that he’d discuss to Girardi. Galloway additionally emailed Aumais in October 2020, telling him that she’d despatched Girardi weekly memos concerning the case. Aumais informed her to maintain sending emails, including, “Possibly print the memo and discuss to him right now?”
Galloway stated her efforts to alert companions and senior legal professionals on the agency — like Aumais, Griffin and Girardi’s brother, Jack Girardi — left her annoyed and disenchanted.
“As companions … I trusted all of them,” Galloway testified. “I additionally trusted Tom.”
