Entertainment
Where Is Tom Girardi Now? His Life 5 Years After Fraud Scandal
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NEED TO KNOW
- In 2020, famed lawyer Tom Girardi was accused of stealing from clients
- Girardi was previously married to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne, who filed for divorce in 2020
- On June 3, Girardi was sentenced to seven years in prison
Tom Girardi was once a powerhouse attorney known for suing large corporations and extracting huge settlements for his clients. Now, he will go to prison for seven years for stealing from them.
On June 3, Girardi was sentenced by a federal judge in the Central District of California. In August 2024, he was convicted of four counts of wire fraud after embezzling millions from his clients.
Girardi — who was portrayed in the 2000 film Erin Brockovich — began experiencing his personal and professional downfall in late 2020. That November, his wife of 21 years, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne, filed for divorce.
Within the next month, the once-famed lawyer found himself in the center of a complicated web of legal controversies: He was accused of stealing client funds for his own personal spending; he was sued by his former law firm partners; and his law firm, Girardi Keese, was forced into involuntary bankruptcy.
Girardi was diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease in March 2021, and placed under the conservatorship of his younger brother, Robert, in July. In 2022, Girardi was officially disbarred by the state of California after being investigated for more than 200 disciplinary matters over his 40-year law career. In February 2023, he was indicted by two separate federal grand juries — one in Los Angeles and one in Chicago — for allegedly misappropriating $18 million in client settlement money, according to the Los Angeles Times. (A judge later dismissed the charges in the Chicago case ahead of his California sentencing, per Reuters.)
Here is everything to know about where Tom Girardi is now — from the status of his legal woes to his future behind bars.
What happened at Tom Girardi’s federal trial in California?
Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty
After Girardi was indicted on five counts of wire fraud by a federal jury in California in February 2023, his legal team argued that the disbarred lawyer was incompetent to stand trial due to his declining mental state. But in January 2024, a judge declared Girardi competent to stand trial.
During Girardi’s 13-day 2024 trial, Girardi spoke publicly about the fraud and embezzlement charges against him for the first time when he took the stand to testify in his own defense. According to the Los Angeles Times, the disgraced lawyer denied any wrongdoing while testifying, insisting that “every client got every penny that every client was supposed to get.”
Girardi and his lawyers attempted to shift the blame to Christopher Kamon, the CFO of the now-closed law firm. In their closing arguments, Girardi’s defense team portrayed their client as an “elderly man with cognitive decline” and alleged that the theft of client money was “Mr. Kamon’s scheme,” the Los Angeles Times reported. Prosecutors, however, painted Girardi as the “thief in chief” who ran a “house of cards … built on lies.”
What was the verdict at Tom Girardi’s federal trial in California?
Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times via Getty
In 2024, Girardi was found guilty of embezzling more than $15 million from his clients over a span of 10 years.
The jury deliberated for just four hours, according to the Los Angeles Times, and voted to convict Girardi on four counts of federal wire fraud. One juror, Miguel Lopez, said that the verdict “wasn’t a hard decision,” per the Los Angeles Times.
“Tom Girardi built celebrity status and lured in victims by falsely portraying himself as a ‘Champion of Justice,’ ” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement following the guilty verdict. “In reality, he was a Robin-Hood-in-reverse, stealing from the needy to support a lavish, Hollywood lifestyle. Today’s verdict shows that the game is up — we can all now see this defendant for what he was and the victims he callously betrayed.”
What was Tom Girardi’s prison sentence?
Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty
On June 3, Girardi was sentenced to seven years in prison, after facing up to 80 years. He was also ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution to victims and a $35,000 fine, according to NBC News.
U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton issued the sentence, decrying Girardi for using clients’ settlement money on “private jets and country clubs,” per the Los Angeles Times.
In a victim impact statement, Joseph Ruigomez — who enlisted Girardi’s help after suffering burns over 90% of his body in a 2010 gas line explosion — said that Girardi was “supposed to be a beacon of hope.” Instead, the case turned into a years-long “a nightmare,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
What was Erika Girardi’s response to Tom Girardi’s guilty verdict?
Steve Eichner/AP
Erika spoke out on her former husband’s legal woes in an interview with Extra’s Billy Bush in November 2024.
“Tom was convicted and that was hard,” she said. “You know, it’s hard to see someone that you loved and respected and honored end like this.”
She continued, “But I also really have to let go and move on. There’s nothing left for me there, I can do nothing about it. It’s beyond my control. But what I can control is the future of my life.”
Erika filed for divorce from Girardi in November 2020 after 21 years of marriage. While they are legally separated, their divorce has stalled due to Girardi’s conservatorship and legal troubles.
Where is Tom Girardi now?
Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty
Girardi has been ordered to surrender to authorities by July 17, according to The Guardian.
Girardi’s lawyers have plans to appeal his conviction, per the Los Angeles Times.
Entertainment
Rebecca Gayheart has split from Peter Morton

Rebecca Gayheart and her mega-mogul boyfriend Peter Morton quietly split last year, sources tell Page Six, parting ways before the death of her husband Eric Dane.
Gayheart and Hard Rock Cafe founder Morton were first linked in 2023 when they were photographed in L.A. on a double date with model Claudia Schiffer and her husband Matthew Vaughn.
A source tells us the pair broke up nearly a year ago, in April 2025.
They were last spotted holding hands and giving each other a kiss on the lips in December while leaving E-Baldi in Beverly Hills, Calif.
A source tells us that despite appearances, it was not a date. We’re told the pair had run into each other and wound up catching up.
“They are still friendly,” says a source.
Morton’s father is Arnie Morton, founder of the Morton’s Steakhouse chain.
He and his partners sold their stake in the Hard Rock Cafe restaurants to the Rank Organization for $410 million in 1996. In May 2006, he and his partners sold the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas to the Morgans Hotel Group Company for $770 million.
He was previously married to Paulene Stone and Tarlton Pauley. He also had a relationship with Linda Evangalista.
Success runs in Morton’s family. His late son Harry was an owner in the Viper Room and founded Pink Taco. Son Matthew founded the popular Cha Cha Matcha and daughter Grace works as vice president of production and development for Taylor Sheridan’s Bosque Ranch Productions.
Gayheart was married to Eric Dane from 2004 until his death from ALS in Febraury.
The pair were separated and Gayheart had filed for divorce in 2018. She dismissed the filing last March following Dane’s diagnosis.
“Eric knows that I am always going to want the best for him,” she wrote in The Cut in December. “That I’m going to do my best to do right by him. And I know he would do the same for me. So whatever I can do or however I can show up to make this journey better for him or easier for him, I want to do that.”
“We wanna take advantage of the time that he has right now,” Gayheart wrote. “He made it very clear that he wants to spend time with his family as much as possible, and I am committed to facilitating that.”
Entertainment
Uma Thurman reveals why she never lived in Los Angeles remaining in New York

Uma Thurman built an A-list career without ever planting roots in Hollywood, and the actress exclusively told InStyle that skipping Los Angeles may have cost her a deeper connection to the industry.
Despite cementing her status as both an A-list actress and an action star in “Kill Bill,” Thurman made a choice to stay rooted in New York.
“I actually always wished I had moved to Los Angeles,” she admitted during a cover interview.
At one point, the actress nearly made the move out west as her Hollywood career kept pulling her to California.
“I even got an apartment there at one point because I was working there really frequently, and as soon as I signed the lease, I got pregnant with my daughter within, like, six weeks.”
Instead of settling in Los Angeles, Thurman pivoted, choosing family over being close to Hollywood.
However, Thurman added that although the decision was practical, it came with trade-offs.
“I never did time in Los Angeles, and because of that, I kind of never integrated into the community of my own profession, and I think that’s too bad,” she continued.
Rather than building connections within Hollywood circles, Thurman found her sense of community elsewhere, much closer to home.
“I had more of a community with the other mothers at pickup on 16th Street and Rutherford Place, and that’s OK. But I wish I’d had that chapter. I think I really would have liked it.”
Still, Thurman makes clear she doesn’t dwell on missed opportunities.
“I think the choice to be happy is one that should be made, regardless of any conditions,” she said.
Thurman was previously married to actor Ethan Hawke. The couple met while filming “Gattaca” in 1997.
In 2004, Thurman filed for divorce from Hawke after being separated for several years.
The couple married in 1998, and their divorce was finalized in 2005. The two share two children, Maya and Levon.
Thurman and Hawke have both moved on to new relationships after their divorce
Hawke married Ryan Shawhughes in 2008, and they share two daughters, Clementine and Indiana.
Thurman dated Arpad Busson, and the pair became engaged in 2008 before splitting in 2009. The pair were off and on until breaking up for good in 2014. They welcomed their daughter, Luna, in 2012.
Entertainment
Judy Garland’s daughter, Lorna Luft, says Dorothy was ‘always for my mom,’ not Shirley Temple

Judy Garland was “always” meant to sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” despite a longtime rumor that Shirley Temple was considered the top choice to play Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.”
Garland’s daughter, Lorna Luft, set the record straight during a live Q&A at the Palazzo Theatre the Venetian Resort Las Vegas on Monday night.
Luft, whose the daughter of Garland and Sidney Luft – and half sister of Liza Minnelli – confirmed the role “was always, always for my mom. Okay? They never had anybody else in mind.”
Garland wasn’t as big of a child star as Temple at the time, but the latter still has ties to the film.
Luft explained that due to the rising cost of the 1939 Hollywood classic, Loew’s Theatres wanted a bigger star, “someone who had starred in many, many movies as a child,” she said.
Child stars didn’t come any bigger than Temple at that time. “So, they went to L.B. Mayer, the head of MGM, and they said, ‘Please consider Shirley Temple.’ And he said, ‘Not on your life.’” Luft claimed.
Mayer, however, eventually gave in and “sent the great head of the music department, Roger Edens, over to 20th Century Fox,” Luft shared.
Edens audition her and the verdict was: “She’s got killer dimples, but she can’t sing this movie,” Luft said.
“So, my mom became Dorothy forever. Just to put that a little bit to sleep,” she added.
Luft also revealed she met her years later and she told her, “‘I just want you to know something. I could have never, ever done what your mom did in ‘The Wizard of Oz,’” she said. “And I thought that was really, really kind – and very gracious,” Luft concluded.
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