Disgraced former attorney and estranged husband of “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne, Tom Girardi, let the words “f–k you” slip out of his mouth during his court hearing in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
via Page Six:
According to Courthouse News, the prosecutor — Assistant US Attorney Ali Moghaddas — brought the cursing to the judge’s attention, and neither Girardi nor his lawyers denied it.
Moghaddas was cross-examining Dr. Stacey Wood — a neuropsychologist and expert witness for the defense — when the 84-year-old’s outburst occurred.
The Girardi & Keese co-founder then stared coldly at Moghaddas, who argued that the incident was evidence that the defendant was cognizant of what was happening around him.
According to Moghaddas, Girardi made the comment because he knows he has “nothing to lose.”
Meanwhile, Wood called the remark “rude and inappropriate” and told the prosecutor, “You deserve our respect.”
Per Courthouse News, Girardi has otherwise remained quiet and still since proceedings began Monday.
The disbarred lawyer — who was diagnosed with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in March 2021 and is now under the care of his brother-turned-conservator, Robert Girardi — was indicted this past February for allegedly embezzling more than $15 million from former clients.
Tom’s team has argued that “three neurologists, two neuropsychologists, one neuropsychiatrist [and] multiple lawyers” determined that he suffers from dementia. Therefore, they insist he “cannot maintain awareness” of the accusations.
However, the federal government is suspicious of the timeline of Tom’s diagnosis, as it came “mere weeks” after his alleged misdeeds first came to light.
In December 2020, the loved ones of the victims of the 2018 Lion Air Flight 610 crash filed a class-action lawsuit against both Tom and his estranged wife, accusing the former of stealing their settlement money to fund the couple’s lavish lifestyle.
Jayne, 52, had filed for divorce just one month before; however, she has repeatedly denied having knowledge of or participation in her longtime spouse’s alleged crimes.
The Bravolebrity was dismissed from the suit last January and then met with several of Tom’s alleged victims in July in an effort to “listen to what’s going on, hear what happened and figure out how to be a part of how to move forward together in a way that’s beneficial for” them.
Jayne has consistently maintained that Tom has suffered from severe mental decline in recent years.
Dementia or not — he still stole those people’s money.
