Girardi law firm CFO gets 65-month sentence in client funds case

By David Thomas

July 14 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Chicago on Monday sentenced the former chief financial officer of California lawyer Tom Girardi's law firm Girardi Keese to 65 months in prison for his role in the misappropriation of millions of dollars in client funds, which were owed to families of the victims of a 2018 plane crash in Indonesia, prosecutors said.

Christopher Kamon, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland in Chicago. Kamon is already serving a 121-month sentence after pleading guilty in a California federal court to two counts of wire fraud on similar charges of bilking clients.

A spokesperson for the Chicago U.S. Attorney's office said Kamon's Illinois and California sentences will run concurrently.

A lawyer for Kamon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kamon has been incarcerated in federal jail since his arrest in November 2022.

Federal prosecutors in Chicago charged Girardi, Kamon and David Lira, Girardi's son-in-law and a former lawyer at the firm, with misappropriating more than $3 million in client funds owed to families of the victims of the 2018 Boeing 737 MAX Lion Air Flight 610 crash in Indonesia. The crash killed all 189 onboard.

A federal judge last month sentenced Girardi to more than seven years in prison in the related California prosecution, capping the once-prominent lawyer's rapid fall for enriching himself with settlement funds meant for his clients.

Kamon had initially pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud and criminal contempt in the Chicago case. He changed his plea on Wednesday.

Lira pleaded guilty to one charge of criminal contempt last month. His sentencing is scheduled for October.

Rowland in May dismissed the Chicago charges against Girardi after prosecutors sought their dismissal in light of his California sentencing.