Erika Jayne’s husband Tom Giradi, 86, sentenced to lengthy prison term after being found guilty in fraud case

By CHRISTINE RENDON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Published: 20:31 BST, 3 June 2025 | Updated: 20:31 BST, 3 June 2025

Tom Girardi has been sentenced to seven years and three months in federal prison after being found guilty in his wire fraud trial.

The 86-year-old disgraced lawyer and estranged husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne has also been ordered to pay $2,310,247 in restitution to his victims and a $35,000 fine. 

The judge has ordered Girardi surrender to federal authorities by July 17. 

DailyMail.com has contacted representatives for Girardi’s estranged wife Erika but did not immediately hear back.  

The once-powerful attorney was found guilty in August on four charges of swindling his horribly injured or grieving clients out of around $15 million in settlement fees. 

Girardi, who built the prestigious LA law firm Girardi & Keese after his fight against a California utility giant inspired the Oscar-winning movie Erin Brockovich, was charged with four counts of wire fraud, all of which he pleaded not guilty to.

His high-rolling career came tumbling down in 2020 when he was accused of stealing millions in settlements he’d won for the victims of the 2018 Lion Air plane crash in Indonesia.

Claims from that crash – in which 189 people died – are the basis of separate criminal charges against Girardi that are still pending in Chicago. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges as well.

Tom Girard has been sentenced to seven years and three months in prison after being found guilty in his wire fraud trial

The 86-year-old disgraced lawyer and estranged husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne has also been ordered to pay $2 million in restitution to his victims, according to NBC New s

During the trial, the jury heard that between 2010 and 2020 the shamed attorney used his clients’ settlement funds ‘like a personal piggy bank.’

‘Girardi Keese was a den of thieves and Tom Girardi was the thief-in-chief,’ Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Paetty previously told the court.

‘Girardi Keese was a house of cards built on the lies of Tom Girardi.’

Girardi ran a massive ‘Ponzi scheme,’ lying to clients and using their misappropriated millions to pay for his own lavish lifestyle of private jets, luxury cars, exclusive club memberships, expensive jewelry for his third wife, ex-go-go dancer Jayne, 52, plus $20 million to fund her acting career.

The couple were together for 21 years but their divorce – filed by Jayne soon after the Lion Air allegations – has been held up since Girardi Keese filed bankruptcy in 2021 with more than $100 million in debts. Jayne never showed up at her soon-to-be- ex husband’s trial.

Girardi – who was disbarred in 2022 following the allegations against him – was portrayed by his defense team as suffering from dementia.

‘He got old, he got sick, he lost his mind,’ his attorney Charles Snyder previously told the court.

‘All the lights were on but there was nobody home. He lost touch with reality.’

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Erika Jayne’s husband Tom Giradi, 86, sentenced to lengthy prison term after being found guilty in fraud case

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