Ex-Girardi Keese CFO Pleads Not Guilty to Alleged Fraud Scheme

Former Girardi Keese CFO Christopher Kamon pleaded not guilty before a Chicago federal judge on Thursday to charges he’d siphoned millions of dollars from the defunct law firm’s clients to pay bills and repay other people whose money the firm allegedly stole.

He and firm principal Thomas V. Girardi were indicted on consective days last week—first in a US court in Los Angeles and then in Chicago—for misusing money largely earmarked as settlement funds for the clients they represented.

Kamon’s arraignment was his second this week as he entered a not guilty plea in L.A. on Feb. 6, as did Girardi. The one-time chief financial officer for the now-bankrupt law firm entered his plea via video before Magistrate Judge Jeffrey I. Cummings of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Kamon is being held in a federal lockup in Los Angeles on an earlier and separate indictment for running what prosecutors said was a “side fraud” in which he allegedly embezzled millions from the firm.

Two Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP defense attorneys, five Edelson PC attorneys, and three reporters were among those who signed on to the virtual hearing to hear Kamon’s response to 12 felony counts. His next Chicago appearance is set for Feb.14.

Firm partner David Lira, also indicted in the Chicago case, is scheduled answer the charges against him before Cummings on Friday.

Thomas Girardi—who has been diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s and has had a conservator appointed to act on his behalf—appeared in person to enter his Jan. 6 plea, represented by a federal public defender. Girardi is scheduled for arraignment via video in Chicago on March 3. He was released on a $250,000 bond in the Los Angeles criminal case, and to the custody of his brother, Robert, his appointed conservator.

Years-long Fraud Alleged

It took decades of alleged misappropriations and months of investigation for Girardi, his son-in-law Lira, and Kamon to be charged with fraud.

The indictment handed up by a Los Angeles grand jury alleges five counts of wire fraud, accusing Girardi and Kamon of cheating clients out of more than $15 million over a decade. The Chicago indictment alleges eight counts of wire fraud and four counts of criminal contempt against Girardi, Lira, and Kamon.

Judge Thomas M. Durkin in Chicago made a criminal referral to federal prosecutors in December 2020, after Edelson PC, local co-counsel who represented family members of individuals killed aboard Lion Air flight 610 off Indonesia in 2018, notified the court that their clients hadn’t been paid millions in settlement dollars Boeing paid for their benefit in 737 Max airliner defect litigation.

The Girardi Keese firm and its principal were each forced into bankruptcy in 2020. Girardi suffers from a major neurocognitive disorder, the Los Angeles Superior Court held in June 2021.He was disbarred in June 2022.

“We’ll leave it up to the court to determine competency issues,” Martin Estrada, the US Attorney in Los Angeles, said at a Feb. 1 news conference announcing the indictments.

The cases are US v. Girardi, N.D. Ill., No. 1:23-cr-54, arraignment 2/9/23 and US v. Girardi, C.D. Cal., No. 2:23-cr-00047, 2/6/23.