Thomas Girardi, a released lawyer convicted of fraudulent clients, is hospitalized and will not be able to attend a scheduled hearing Thursday. There, it was set up to hear evidence that allowed federal judges to determine whether they were being sent to prison or to the appropriate medical facility.
The disclosure of Girardi’s hospitalization came in an application filed by his defense attorney. He asked District Judge Josephine Staton to delay the one- to two-week hearing.
Girardi was taken by ambulance from an Orange County nursing home Wednesday morning and was found to be confirmed in the afternoon due to “liver dysfunction,” according to submissions from Deputy Federal Public Advocates Samuel Cross and Charles Snyder.
“He’ll probably stay there for multiple days,” the lawyer wrote. The defense team claimed that the client wanted to be physically present for the hearing, otherwise it would violate his rights.
Staton has not made a decision yet.
This episode gives another twist to Girardi’s saga. This is a major downfall for a man who once was among the prominent Los Angeles lawyers and Politics-Nrose. At Girardi’s trial last summer, prosecutors said Girardi Keith’s law firm had acted as a Ponzi-like scheme that sucked up a client fund of as many as $100 million with client funds to take on his wife’s lifestyle and music career. Ju’s judge was convicted of four wire frauds by Girardi.
Prosecutors are seeking Girardi’s 14-year sentence, and he was originally scheduled to be sentenced last December. However, his lawyers argued that due to dementia and continued cognitive decline, their clients should leave prison and stay in Orange County nursing homes.
To confirm Girardi’s current status, the judge ordered him to undergo a medical evaluation at a federal prison in Batner, North Carolina
Experts there concluded that he does not require any special treatment, but their full report has not been released.
Forensic psychologists and neuropsychologists who evaluated him “deemed Girardi safe and appropriate to jail.” [the federal prison system] …He doesn’t even need to be placed in a specialized medical facility at this time,” his defense attorney said they wanted to summon the author of the report by writing in submissions that challenge those findings.
At Thursday’s hearing, these experts were expected to testify to Girardi’s mental state and the basis for his conclusion. He is then faced with cross-examination from Girardi’s legal team, who is pressing him to serve his sentence in a medical facility.
Last month, Staton sentenced Christopher Kamon, former chief financial officer of Girardi’s current embarrassing law firm, to 10 years in prison for his role in a massive fraud.
Both Girardi and Camon face additional federal charges in Chicago over the misappropriation of millions of dollars in settlements for the families of the victims of the plane crash crash.
Times staff writer Harriet Ryan contributed to this report.
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