Tom Girardi Trial: An Insider Perspective | Morgan's Pop Talks

I Have Nothing to Complain About! [Music] hello hello happy Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday whenever you're listening to this happy day and welcome into Morgan's pop talks breaking down the latest in reality TV and pop culture you're not going to believe this you're not going to believe I have nothing to talk about or complain about at the top of the show rant today nothing not a thing is going on easy breezy beautiful living my life there's nothing really happening no drama no stress to talk about I mean it's a sharp contrast to last week and I pretty much feel like it's because I'm no longer on my period if you know you know that's just the way the cookie crumbles but we're just chilling and you know let's normalize just chilling let's normalize not having a lot going on at the moment in my own personal life you know wake up watch The Bachelorette for six hours write some scripts sit down in front of this camera cook some dinner and then go to bed you know we're living the good life over here so if you're feeling a little bored in your life right now like I am don't be because one day it's going to get chaotic you're going to get back back on your period eventually and it's all going to go downhill so we're just living in the moment we're having a good day and we have a lot to discuss on this week's episode of npt you know Tuesday came around this week Tuesday morning and I was like Wow nothing's going on nothing is going on we had fantasy sweets the night before snoozefest and I don't know what I just had this feeling that Tuesday was going to be a wild day I literally got up and I was like what can I make content about today and something my head just said just let the day progress a little bit just give it give it a moment let the day play out and boy oh boy was Tuesday a doozy we got a divorce announcement we got a guilty verdict and everything in between so let's go ahead Pop 3 Starting with Kaitlyn & Tayshia and jump right into it these are the three biggest headlines from the past week in reality TV and pop culture let's start with tasa Adams and Caitlyn Bristo this drama took the World by storm in case you missed it Caitlyn was on a podcast where she detailed how she came to get to know Zack Clark now she never comes out and says Caitlyn or Zach but or tasa or Zach but everybody in their brother knows who Caitlyn is referencing here she said you know I had a friend or a co-worker and her ex slid into my DMs we started talking so I reached out to her to let her know hey I'm going to go on a date with your ex just wanted to get you a heads up this person didn't respond until the next day when she called her and said I always knew you were a bad person this just confirms it you're showing your true colors and then Caitlyn made a comment a joke she's saying about all that made me want to do was send an inappropriate picture of me and her ex to her right I'm not going to resay it because I'm approved you guys know this I can't talk like that my mother will kill me anyways all hell broke loose after that because obviously it's a very outlandish thing to say on a very public podcast not only that people have been wanting the behind the scenes between tasa Zach and Caitlyn right we all thought it was weird when they were spotted out together we all were like what about tasa and I don't I don't know where in the world Caitlyn bro's head was when she started saying this on the podcast the story is fine the story is fine it is what it is give the people what they want it's the joke that I think ruined it ruined it all really um in my opinion it's a tasteless joke it's not my sense of humor and you know I did see some screenshots of her off theine Facebook page where she says you know this is just my sense of humor I was trying to make Jared laugh he's a comedian that's how I get validation pretty much is what she was saying um but like we got at some point we got to stop with the excuses and I told you guys this a while ago that I was starting to get KB fatigue and this is a great reason why there's only so many times that I can talk about reality TV and pop culture news about drama that surrounds Caitlyn Bristo without at some point getting a little tired of it you know it's like kind of same with Nick Fel you know like there's just always something going on with him that I try to just let it leave my brain as quickly as possible because I always feel like I'm just waiting for the next shoe to drop but I had I did have some questions about it so my first question is um why was Zack and Caitlyn's DMS first of all I think that's weird and people aren't asking that question enough second of all Caitlyn said something like Tesa had muted Caitlyn's account from for Zach why I need to know why you know I just also think that whether she's posting about Jason or Jason's new relationship or now this she knows how to make a headline and I think her goal in life is to make a headline at tesa's expense which is what I don't like like I said if you just tell the story it's fine but now everybody is like oh where's tsha although Tesa she's probably gotten engagement bump but you know what else about Tisha is a successful influencer in her own people know her people love her she makes her money and she never has to do things like this to do it and that's how I feel Brittany Divorces Jax about that let's move on to Britney cartright divorcing Jax Taylor this week Britney cour right filed for divorce and when I saw this headline on TMZ I was transported back to 2017 when Britney busted through those doors at her welcome party what was it their housewarming party everyone everyone come and hear this every one come and see this Britney cartrite is soon to be a single woman so she cited irreconcilable differences with the date of Separation listed at January 24th she wants primary legal and physical custody of their three-year-old son Cruz um with Jack's being allowed visitation so she also petition to block both herself and Jax from receiving spousal support I went back and re watched the last episode of the valley just to give a little refresher crash course you know and their issues were deep Britney wanted another baby while at the same time feeling like Jax was no longer attracted to her Jax was not happy with Britney's drinking Britney was not happy with the way that JX spoke to her Jax was feeling the pressure of being an adult you know having a family and a kids and um a business his anger was a big issue right and he was in impatient treatment for his mental health I know nobody wants to say this when it comes to Jackson Britney but was Tom sanal right let's jog your memory four years ago before Britney and Jax got married Here Comes Tom sandal who brought up some concerns after Jax went through a major loss in his life and was a changed man and all of a sudden went from a boyfriend who you didn't really trust to husband material right and sanal and Ariana at the time were two of the only people that said will this last well did it last now it's not infidelity right which is what everybody thought it would be based on Jax's track record but here we are five years later irreconcilable differences nine years together you know I think Britney and Jax are sad for the sake of Cru who wouldn't be sad for the sake of their child but I also feel like Britney feels like she's shedding dead wait did you see her Instagram post she's getting her Sparkle back looking pretty and pink and we love to see it and look if Jax needs help I hope that he gets the help that he needs and I hope everybody moves on in a happy and healthy way and that for the sake of their son they have a healthy co-parenting environment but I think Tom sandal was right hurts to say truth hurts all right Baby Bieber is Here! last but certainly not least it would not be the biggest headlines in pop culture if we didn't talk about baby Bieber oh my gosh baby Bieber is here I've never been so happy thrilled elated ecstatic about a baby that I will never meet in my whole entire life or even like physically laid eyes on in the flesh but Justin Bieber and Haley Bieber welcome their little baby boy Jack Blues Bieber I love the name I love it Jack Blues Bieber JB JB it's not like this weird outlandish name like Blues you don't hear every day um but I still think it's cute and Jack Jack Jackie here every day I love it and you know it is a family tradition of naming their son JB the initials at least on Justin's side of the family it's been going on for a couple Generations now right um his dad is Jeremy Bieber he's Justin Bieber some of his siblings also have the JB initial sourceful people the pregnant y was something that they very much wished and prayed for the day they found out that Haley was pregnant was the best ever for Justin um I'm just so happy for them you know Justin Bieber made it out of that child star Gauntlet alive healthy happy having a good life a lot of people thought that he and Haley Bieber would not make it five years they made it longer than Britney and Jack that's for sure and I don't have a crystal ball I can't see into the future um but I do feel like their relationship ship is solid and I feel like you know when they got married a lot of people had a lot of doubt that it wouldn't last at all but look now they're 5 years in they have a baby together and I think that they're pretty happy together so here for baby Bieber snaps for Haley and Justin all right let's move into the deep dive and Deep Dive: Tom Girardi Trial it's a legal Deep dive this week Tom gerardi was found guilty on four counts of wire fraud facing 20 years in prison per count so just to kind of give you a quick recap before we really get into it um Tom gerardi disgraced Powerhouse attorney known in the Bravo world for his marriage to Real Housewives of Beverly hillstar Erica Jane right well this week he was found guilty of embezzling more than1 15 million from former clients and settlement money um taking all of their funds so his most famous case was against Pacific Gas and Electric Company depicted in the film Aaron Brockovich starring Julia Roberts Tom gerardi during this trial had been battling dementia in recent years but was deemed fit to stand trial in this case which was a pretty surprising turn of events here he even testified that every client got every penny that every client was supposed to get still uh he was found guilty jury sided with the prosecution so while Erica has been linked to this Scandal since 2020 she was not charged in the case she then filed for divorce in 2021 but their split has not yet been finalized well Kiki Monique from the talk of Shame and the host of Pop crime has been at the courthouse during this trial she has seen Tom gerardi in the F flesh she has seen all the witnesses opening statements closing statements she has seen it all I invited her on today to be a guest to give you the inside scoop all about this Tom gerardi trial okay well you must be exhausted because you have been at that Courthouse every day for what a month yeah the trial well jury selection started August 6th and so uh I I think the last day what was it I don't even know I don't even know the days anymore but I think it's almost the end of August well let's start with jury selection because that had to be interesting obviously there's a lot of eyes on this case for a lot of different reasons one Tom gerardi is one of the most prolific attorneys in California and then you have Bravo fandom so what was the jury selection like did they have to take certain things into consideration when picking jurors yeah I mean they had a special questionnaire that had you know obviously you know the standard things they asked jurors but they did throw in things about you know what gossip sites do you listen to what news sources do you use do you watch Bravo do you watch Real Housewives do you know um you know any of his characters you know Erica Jane you know what do you know so um just I felt like that alone and it was funny because even in those sections they only gave you like two lines to answer and I was like I I definitely could not fill in all of the Bravo shows I watched in two lines but right um yeah and then you know in the jury selection itself obviously once people filled out those questionnaires if the attorneys had questions they wanted to dig deeper into and one girl literally straight up said in the audience she was like you know I'm I'm a Bravo girl not get selected this way she's one of us yeah it's so interesting when you look at all of the layers of it but it was pretty early on like during that jury selection that you got your first look at Tom Right In the Flesh what was that like well I had seen him at the competency hearing that had happened before and so I kind of knew you know that was when he showed up the first day with his slippers he didn't come back in his slippers after that but then he looked pretty similar like literally similar in the trial it it looked like the same suit jacket even it it had gotten a little worse for the wear you know he kind of went between you know a pair of khaki pants and a pair of navy blue pants uh he always wore white sneakers all the way down until the day uh I think it was the day he testified or the day they were SED Del or or closing statements he had a different pair of shoes he had on a black pair of Sketchers he had switched to so up until this point another big story has been his mental decline right diagnosed with dementia we didn't know if he was going to be able to stand trial based on your uh reaction of it I mean what was he like was he really incompetent and why do you think they made the decision to continue to go forward with the trial if he was you know battling dementia well you know the again during the competency hearing they had they heard from several doctors you know I think they all sort of agreed he had you know mild Dementia or mild cognitive impairment is what the prosecutions doctors had said um but even still you know the experts kind of on both sides were saying that even with dementia um you know they can still know right from wrong and so um I think it was just about the fact that well the prosecutions doctors pretty much said he was figing a lot of his symptoms um you know what's happened over the last two years I I'm sure he has declined over the last two years but again when we're looking at the case we're only looking at 2010 through 2020 that is the period we have to look at and so what was his mental state during that well that's why they were showing you know scenes from roal Housewives they were you know talking about speeches he had given and so um while he may not have been in the best shape and I don't know if it was real or what it kind of didn't matter for this trial what was the defense's approach in trying to exonerate Tom gerardi because I feel like going into it it kind of seemed like the writing was already on the wall so what was their defense you know they really were putting a lot of this on the CFO Chris kimone Chris kimone has been arrested he's still in custody because he was trying to basically leave the country um they arrested him um and the defense was pretty much saying look we can show that Chris kimone has stolen We Believe $53 million and gerardi keys wasn't able to sustain that and Tom gerardi was just trying to run a firm and he couldn't figure out you know because he's getting information from his CFO and they're saying he can't figure out you know why they are having shortages so he's putting his own money in the firm and they showed you know where he had put you know I think like nearly 40 million into the operating accounts and you know over 40 million into the trust accounts and they're saying he was trying to keep the business going not realizing that Chris kimone was taking it out of the other side so that was really their whole argument a lot of their whole argument in addition to the fact that during the last few years of the firm they were basically saying that other people in The Firm were taking advantage of the fact that he had mentally Decline and were propping him up like weeken at Bernie's and you know basically had this party going on and Tom had no idea what was going on so that was their two main arguments well obviously there's a lot of witnesses that made that defense pretty hard to believe based on your opinion because I know there were there were a lot what Witnesses made the most impact and swayed a guilty verdict in the end I think for me um hearing from Judy selberg I think was the first one that sort of well she was just a really strong solid witness everything she said there was no kind of iffiness about it she's like this is exactly what happened these are all the emails I sent to follow up my husband died I was trying to get money I followed up I followed up I followed up and she was very believable um there was another you know witness I didn't really talk about him much in my recaps but John abassian I think is how you say his last name he was a lawyer who essentially would bring cases to bigger firms because he was just kind of a oneman shop and so he needed you know larger firms to handle these you know major Tor cases or personal injury claims that he didn't have the resources for and they would split the fee with him he was the one that brought the Erica salana case to gerardi Kei Erica salana was a drunk driver hit her in her family her you know one-year-old son was uh become became a paraplegic and they were suing um both the manufacturer of the the car maker of the car seat her son was in as well as the drunk driver um John brought that to gerardi ke because Erica he had met Erica and he was a strong witness because he was basically saying once the fin the settlement money came in the other attorney who was working on it said you take the check um put it in your trust account and John was like okay he thought it was a little bit strange now he believed the reason that was being done is because that attorney suspected that money was not going to clients and he wanted it to be safe and go to Erica and so he and so John said when he went to pick up the check that Tom gerardi found out and brought him into his office and he he said he basically like uh ripped into him and uh scolded him and called him every name in the book and he was like you better give me that check and took the check from him I thought that was pretty strong testimony and then yesterday after the verdict you know when the jurors were coming out uh reporters were trying to talk to the jurors most of them refused did not want to talk one juror did talk um and um I was just listening but you know um when I was talking to the other reporters he was saying that you know I was because I wanted to know what Witnesses affected the jurors the most and they said you know at Mo at different times different Witnesses affected but they said Erica salana he said for him like the Erica salana testimony really affected him I mean over the course of this 10 years it was reported that Tom had over 200 complaints to the State Bar and I mean we only tried four of them right so why do you think that he had 200 complaints and nothing was done well actually the 200 complaints went back to the 80s these were over 40 years which was even crazier because it was like you know this started so long ago um and I think we all know why we I don't think it's been fully proven some of it has been alleged you know LA times did uh a story on you know showing gifts and money that Tom was paying to people that were working at the State Bar and you know those people I think some of them have you know been questioned have been investigated but again it's this verdict that they need to really further Deep dive into that because you can't get away with that level of corruption without multiple people helping you you know over the years right were you surprised at all that it was guilty on all four counts I wasn't surprised I pretty much figured that was you know how it was going to play out and again yeah like you said they were only trying four cases so that that was the you know I will say that was the riskiest part of it because they had to make sure it was those four cases um that the jury would believe and you know three three of those cases happened in the 2019 2020 period which the defense was arguing you know he was out of his mind they were basically saying he was out of his mind he was dementia he didn't know but you know the joea Gomez case goes back from to 2010 settled in 2013 when you know he was very with it you know they had other Arguments for why that didn't happen but yeah I think once you if you were in there and listening to the evidence you I just couldn't see how they could come back with a n guilty and then during closing arguments you know cuz as the Bravo fans we're all sitting here wondering how much was Erica talked about you know was she involved at all which we'll get into that in a second but you actually got to see some unseen you know behind the scenes footage of Tom and Erica while they were filming The Real Housewives of Beverly Phils or Beverly Hills what did you see and why did they show it in the closing arguments it was funny because when I walked into the courtroom they were setting up for their closing arguments and I see her on screen with that pink dress and just laughed because I remember that whole pink dress went viral because multiple people wore the dress and then Brands by Bravo made a meme and then Erica like I think shared it but didn't credit and it was a whole thing and I was like oh my God the pink dress you know it was from season 10 which aired in 2020 and this particular scene was filmed in November of 2019 and Tom was sitting there and talking to the women and I think the part we actually saw aired I don't remember the part we saw a scared from that scene to be honest with you but I didn't remember seeing this part where you started talking about you know he gave a speech at lyola and 67% of the graduating class uh was women and so they were just saying you know he's reciting statistics he he's on top of it and he's just given a speech this is November of 2019 um and then they also wanted to show it because he talks about you know he's telling everyone you know we're all in the business of persuasion you know I'm in the business of persuading I have to persuade that jury and they also wanted to show you know this is what he did as a plaintiff's attorney for you know 40 years he had to be the most persuasive man to get what he wanted and he did he was very successful he was very successful maybe one of the most successful were there any other mentions of Erica and what does this verdict mean for her if anything yeah I mean she came up you know while she's not charged criminally in this case her name came up a lot because you know when we saw the money that was going from gerardi keys to EJ Global you know it said payments made on behalf of you know EJ Global either money transferred or payments and it totaled over $20 million like $21 million from 2010 through 2020 um and you have to just wonder where did that money come from and we're not saying that she's responsible or knew where that money came from but what we're saying is like if that money is victim money this is when we kind of roll our eyes and say stop fighting over earrings because at the end of the day you had a very nice life you benefited lots of people around Tom benefited and now it's gone away and you have to kind of accept that he lied to you um but that's a lot of money and so I know that there's civil cases uh and you know she might have to answer who knows to the IRS because again this is money that's flown that's gone on tax returns you know she might still have to answer to them I know she still has a civil case separately with the Marco Marco chrisos silet case and that's completely separate so she's still GNA have some civil things that she's goingon to have to deal with even if she's never you know charged criminally which I don't think she will be what happened to those earrings do we know cuz I feel like every time I opened a People magazine it was she had to give them back and then she didn't have to give them back do you know like where where is that at right now what's the deal basically she had to turn them over there was a like a fight for but then they did get auction off and then Ronald Richards you know the attorney Ronald Richards who likes to speak on her a lot I believe his girlfriend or I don't know if they're married but his girlfriend is the one he bought I think he bought the earrings for something like a quarter million dollar I think $250,000 he bought the earrings I remember the girlfriend wearing the earrings posting them on Instagram all of that then there was an appeal which Erica won which we saw in the season her talking about I just want you to know I won my appeal and you know she expected this sort of like all the women to be like we're sorry the appeal was really nothing more than a technicality cuz essentially when the bankruptcy trustee took over gerardi T they are acting essentially in place of Tom gerardi and because and we saw this in court those earrings were purchased directly with the gerardi Keith trust attack it said gerardi Keith trust and it was $750,000 made out to Eminem Jewelers yeah because those earrings were purchased with a trust that is why the bankruptcy trustee essentially that's how that's how she won the appeal because they're saying we actually don't have kind of ownership over those because it belongs to the trust which we essentially those belong to clients the trust money belongs to clients is and that's why it was a technicality it's not there's still going to be a hearing I think it's coming up at the end of September to go back because I think the bankruptcy or I think the judge wants to see proof that it was purchased with fund so that they can then uphold their original ruling or something like that um I don't know the technicality but that's basically it it was just an appeal she wanted on technicality and those earrings she should not be crying over what happens next I mean he's facing 20 years per count right but mik like does somebody with dementia go to prison are they going to appeal it what are the next steps in this I have no idea yeah so the US attorney Martin Estrada came out after the verdict did a press conference which I watched and someone asked that they said you know what do you do with an 85-year-old man who's just been sentenced to you know up to 80 years in prison because again it's four counts each count carries a maximum of 20 years so he could serve not really serve but he could be sentenced to up to 80 years and so what aada basically said is you know they're sentencing guidelines and the defense basically has six weeks now to provide a sentencing brief government then has weeks to respond to that and they're going to give their recommendations um Estrada said you know we are going to take a lot of things into consideration but like just because he's old doesn't mean we're not going to send him to prison essentially I'm sure the defense will you know come back with more reporting showing you know how he's declined further and how he can't go to a prison and how they you know probably will suggest some sort of you know Assisted Living they'll probably you know I don't know where old people go but it'll probably that'll be their recommendation some sort of house arrest or something like along those lines I don't know if the government will agree to that um because you know they do have to make an example of this man because it was so egregious but also because there's so many other players involved that look they set on the you know the the IRS agent set on the stand there are other Target letters that still went out to other attorneys for gerardi ke so there could still be other indictments other trials coming so they're gonna make an example so take your rest now because you might be back at the court I know I know well thank you so much I know this was just a crash course but you go deep into this kind of stuff all the time on your podcast pop crime please tell the MPT listeners where they can find you on social media and where they can follow along with the podcast follow me on Tik Tok or Instagram at the talk of Shame and yeah if you go to to you know Apple Spotify and follow pop crime I'm doing new episodes every week I just did an uh episode with Chelsea devontes the author I have an episode coming out about the Blake Lively Scandal coming out this week um and yeah and then obviously also on SiriusXM I still talk about reality TV so reality checked every Monday sometimes Thursdays uh talking about all the reality stuff Kiki thank you so much she'll do this again soon yes thank you all right you guys thanks again for tuning in to another episode of MPT please leave me a review because I did get a one star over the weekend apparently somebody doesn't like that I ask for teas and pe's they said um I'm annoying and ignorant and like it's a joke I hope you know that like the teas and peas is a joke I know there's more serious things going on in the world but also like I don't like one star review so if you haven't done so yet leave me a little five star boop boop a little love you like a sis and I'll see you back next week for another episode of MPT have a great week and as always I love you like a sis see you [Music] [Music]