Former law firm CFO Tom Girardi pleads guilty in fraud case, faces up to 40 years in prison – Orange County Register

The former chief financial officer of convicted ex-attorney Tom Girardi’s law firm pleaded guilty Friday to helping the former litigator embezzle millions of dollars in settlement funds from clients.

Christopher Kamon, 51, entered pleas to two counts of wire fraud in Los Angeles federal court.

Sentencing was scheduled for January 31, when Kamon faces up to 40 years in prison.

Kamon, the former chief accountant of the now-defunct Girardi Keese firm, admitted his role in the scheme and admitted to diverting millions of dollars from the firm’s accounts for his own use. He agreed to forfeit $3.1 million as part of the deal.

The accused was scheduled to go to trial in January. A former Encino and Palos Verdes resident, who was living in the Bahamas at the time of his arrest two years ago, was charged with multiple counts of helping Girardi defraud his clients and, in another case, for having siphoned money from the company. .

He has been in federal custody since his arrest in December 2022.

Kamon admitted to using funds stolen from the company to finance construction projects at his homes.

Girardi was convicted in August of running the massive 10-year Ponzi scheme in which he stole at least $15 million in settlement funds from clients.

Jurors found Girardi, 85, guilty of four counts of wire fraud for stealing from injured clients and spending money on private jets, golf club memberships, jewelry and the career of his ex-wife, “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” star Erika Jayne.

Girardi’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 6, when he faces up to 20 years in federal prison on each count.

The two defendants were originally scheduled to stand trial together this summer, but a judge decided to separate their cases after defense attorneys argued each intended to shift blame to the other. During Girardi’s trial, his lawyers attempted to shift blame to Kamon, suggesting the accountant orchestrated the fraud.

Girardi’s lawyer told jurors that Kamon acted as a fraud “virtuoso” within the firm. Girardi himself said that Kamon “was smart enough to steal millions of dollars.”

Girardi, of Seal Beach, suffers from dementia but was found capable of assisting in his own defense.

The defendants also face federal fraud charges in Chicago in a separate case involving $3 million embezzled from settlements intended for widows and orphans of victims of the Boeing 737-Max crash in Indonesia.