Jurors in the Tom Girardi criminal trial began deliberations on Monday after hearing contrasting descriptions of the famed plaintiffs lawyer: He was a skilled trial lawyer who could put on the “charm” to get away with lies, or the elderly victim of fraud by his firm’s own accountant.
In a closing argument on Monday morning, prosecutors told jurors that Girardi convinced the outside world with his “charm” but, on the inside, orchestrated a fraud that began in the 1990s—long before accounting head Christopher Kamon joined Girardi Keese to begin stealing tens of millions of dollars from the firm.