Who is Tom Girardi? All about the disgraced former lawyer as his former wife speaks on guilty verdict

Former attorney Thomas Girardi, or Tom Girardi, who founded the law firm Girardi & Keese along with Robert Keese, was charged with embezzlement in 2023 by a federal court. He was found guilty of four counts of wire fraud in August 2024. The former attorney was accused of embezzling over $15 million from several clients.

The news of Girardi's criminal conviction seemingly shocked his ex-wife, Erika Jayne, who was married to the former lawyer for twenty years. Erika has previously maintained silence on legal matters related to Girardi. However, in the latest episode of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, the television actress addressed Girardi's criminal conviction and admitted "she never saw this coming". Erika continued saying:

"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."

In a conversation with actress and socialite Kyle Richards, Erika opened up about how she felt after learning about Girardi's verdict. She explained how happy she was with her life until she found out about her former husband's conviction. The 53-year-old actress maintained that she had no idea of Girardi's involvement in any crimes.

While speaking with Richards, Erika also mentioned how unfair it is to Girardi. She elaborated:

"It's not as easy as everyone thinks. I loved Tom very much. There's part of me that still loves Tom very much. I have incredible memories, I have terrible memories, and I wish things were not this way."

For the unversed, the former couple got married in 2000. Jayne filed for divorce from Tom Girardi in November 2020.

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Let's learn more about the former bigshot lawyer, Tom Girardi

Thomas Vincent Girardi, commonly known as Tom Girardi, was born in Denver, Colorado, on June 3, 1939. He completed his schooling at Loyola High School in Los Angeles and then pursued higher education. He received his master of Laws degree in 1965 from New York University.

Girardi began his legal career soon after completing his law degree. In 1970, he won a medical malpractice case, for which he was rewarded over a million dollars, making him the first lawyer in California to receive such a huge amount.

As mentioned earlier, Tom was involved in embezzlement charges. In layman's terms, embezzlement is the misappropriation of another person's money without their knowledge. An individual is charged with embezzlement when that person, who is entrusted with someone else's finances, secretly uses that money for their personal gain. However, it cannot be classified as theft because the person involved in embezzlement has legal access to their clients' money and other property.

85-year-old Tom Girardi and his now-defunct law firm, back in the day, were quite popular for suing and taking legal actions against big-time companies. Some of the huge corporations they sued and obtained massive settlements from were Boeing, Pacific Gas & Electric, and Lockheed Martin.

The former millionaire lawyer was married thrice. His first wife was Karen Weitzul, whom he married in 1964, and his second wife was Kathy Risner, whom he married in 1993. Girardi was staying at an assisted living home before being moved to a memory care facility, as he was diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer's disease in March 2021.