Tom Girardi’s son-in-law and a second lawyer who labored at his agency have been sanctioned by a State Bar choose for not doing sufficient to guard shoppers from the disgraced authorized legend’s misappropriation of their settlement funds.
David Lira, who’s married to Girardi’s daughter and labored for his agency for greater than 20 years, is barred from controlling financial institution accounts that maintain shopper cash and should work underneath the supervision of one other lawyer, based on a call final week by Choose Phong Wang.
The restrictions can be in impact till an upcoming trial, at which Bar prosecutors will search his disbarment on the premise of ethical turpitude, mishandling of settlement funds and different expenses associated to circumstances he dealt with on the Girardi Keese legislation agency.
Individually, the identical choose suspended the legislation license of Keith Griffin, who had labored with Girardi for 20 years. Griffin, one of many final attorneys to depart because the agency crumbled, is prohibited from practising legislation for six months and is on probation for a yr.
The choose discovered that Griffin had hid details about settlement funds from a gaggle of agency shoppers — Indonesian widows and orphans whose family members died in a Boeing airplane crash — and Chicago-based attorneys who have been helping Girardi’s agency with the case.
Proof that Girardi, an influence dealer in California politics and the legislation, had misappropriated thousands and thousands of {dollars} in settlement cash from the Indonesians led to the implosion of his legislation agency three years in the past. It led to allegations that he had stolen cash from shoppers for many years and eluded detection due to a comfy relationship with State Bar regulators and the judiciary.
Girardi, 84, was disbarred in 2022 and faces trial in Might on federal wire fraud expenses associated to the alleged misappropriation of settlement cash from the Indonesians and different shoppers.
In permitting Lira to proceed practising whereas awaiting trial, Wang cited some 99 character letters submitted by “religion leaders, shoppers, fellow attorneys … former colleagues, retired judges, neighbors, household and buddies” in addition to “a scarcity of venality” in lies Lira advised shoppers about after they could be paid.
“Although this document demonstrates deceitful acts by Lira, these largely concerned making an attempt to purchase extra time for the Girardi agency to provide you with funds for funds,” the choose wrote, including that there was not proof that Lira himself was stealing cash.
David Lira, proper, in 2014. A choose just lately imposed restrictions on Lira’s potential to apply legislation.
(Damian Dovarganes / Related Press)
Lira give up the agency in 2020, about six months earlier than it collapsed, after an argument during which he has stated he referred to as Girardi “a thief” and predicted his disbarment. Lira now works on the Century Metropolis agency of Engstrom, Lipscomb & Lack.
A lot of the misconduct alleged centered on the Indonesian shoppers and their profitable go well with towards Boeing for defects within the 737 Max that they stated contributed to the 2018 crash. 4 households whose family members died signed settlement agreements in early 2020 that referred to as for Boeing to ship the cash to Girardi’s shopper belief account, a sort of checking account during which attorneys maintain cash quickly earlier than distributing the funds to their shoppers.
Though Girardi acquired the settlement cash in March 2020, he didn’t inform the households and drew on the funds to pay different shoppers. He supplied a number of excuses to the households for the delay, together with concocted tax points and the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Proof suggests Lira and Griffin knew that he was mishandling the funds.
“Tom is mendacity to shoppers,” Lira confided to the agency’s chief monetary officer in a March 2020 electronic mail.
Griffin pressed Girardi to pay the cash, however like Lira, he by no means alerted the households that Girardi had the cash and was protecting it from them.
“Hey Keith — did the Boeing cash are available in?” one of many different attorneys texted Griffin in June 2020. Griffin knew it had, based on proof submitted to the courtroom, however responded, “I really don’t know. I’ll discover out.”
State Bar prosecutors had sought the complete revocation of Griffin’s legislation license. However the choose declined, noting a scarcity of proof that he had conspired with Girardi to steal shopper funds.
“This courtroom has little question that Griffin needed the shoppers to be totally and well timed paid,” the choose wrote.
George Cardona, the chief prosecutor for the State Bar, stated in a press release Monday that the company was “happy” that the choose discovered Griffin culpable of great misconduct.
“We can be wanting on the courtroom’s resolution and the underlying document intimately to find out whether or not we’ll search evaluation of the extent of self-discipline imposed,” Cardona stated.
Jay Edelson, whose Chicago legislation agency labored with Girardi, Griffin and Lira on the Boeing case and sounded the alarm about mishandled settlement funds, stated in a press release Monday that the measures imposed on the 2 attorneys have been inadequate. Edelson pointed to the shut relationship Girardi cultivated with the State Bar.
“We’ve stated from the beginning that there wanted to be particular counsel appointed,” Edelson stated. “Nothing concerning the Bar’s presentation of Griffin or Lira’s circumstances or its ‘investigation’ extra typically has given us an oz. extra belief that this technique is working.”
A lawyer for Griffin stated his shopper was “grateful” for the “considerate and prolonged resolution” by the choose overseeing his case.
“Whereas Mr. Griffin disagrees with among the findings of truth and conclusions, he’s relieved that this ordeal is close to a conclusion so he can transfer on along with his profession,” stated the lawyer, Ryan Saba.
Lira and his lawyer didn’t reply to a message searching for remark.
