Criminal Defense Attorney Lou Shapiro on the Tom Girardi Guilty Verdict

of Erica Jane from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills now gerardi was known for representing victims of disasters against large companies so let's bring in certified criminal law specialist Lou Shapiro uh Lou the defense tried to argue that gerardi was not competent to stand trial because of a recent Alzheimer's diagnosis the trial happened the verdict was guilty so why did the judge rule the way he did well that decision was made uh prior to trial and there were experts and reports provided that made their pitch for both sides but ultimately the judge decided that gerardi did make statements show proper cognitive abilities and control to the point where he could meaningfully and intelligently assist his Council now at the trial itself his defense tried to argue that can't really hold gerardi accountable for what went on in The Firm because during that time period of the embezzlement gerardi wasn't well mentally so that's still a different standard it was a defense that was thrown out there but the jury just didn't buy it so leou you know these cases take time will his health factor into a sentencing that could take place um depending on how long he decides to appeal things months if not years down the road yeah so this puts the judge in a very difficult position because on one hand the conduct is egregious a financial crime a lot of money uh an an attorney is in a position of power and Trust so there's a lot of reasons why a judge would want to go harsh on sentencing on such an individual but the competing interest is you have a person who is up there in age who is not well uh from a health perspective I don't think anyone thinks that uh he's you know anyone's he's lying about this in any way so judge is torn and it will be very interesting to see how the judge balances those factors in determining what an appropriate sentence is uh will there be appe PE will there be an appeal uh there might be but I don't think that's going to get very far I think sentencing is really something that everyone's going to be focusing on as the next phase in this matter yeah I was just going to ask you whether this is one of those Kaiser solo cases where um the defendant presents one thing and then the minute the verdict is reached walks out the door uh upright um will his defrauded clients though will they get their money back so unfortunately it doesn't appear that way it seem had a lot of the money and we're talking about the millions here that was not given to the client was instead used for things like country clubs vacations uh to his ex-wife's company for her success so I don't think the victims are going to be seeing a lot of this money and that's sort of what one of them said at the end of the trial they were interviewed outside the courtroom and she said while this may be a victory for the prosecution what does that leave the victims who still never got paid their money that they were due from years ago from the injuries that they suffered hey Lou a lot of Bravo fans actually question the the lavish lifestyle of gerardi and Erica Jane on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills how do you think Fame played a a factor in this verdict Fame definitely played a role in a sense that the jury had to have been inflamed and offended by where they saw these funds go Gerard's defense was that the person that handles the Accounting in our Law Firm was the one that didn't balance things correctly and allowed money to stream to where it got to but that just didn't fly it was a very quick verdict and the jury just decided if you are running a law firm you are responsible for everything that goes on in it especially how the money is spent so to try and throw somebody else under the bus for you not doing your responsibility as a leader of this Law Firm that's not going to work with this jury Lou final question before I let you go um Erica Jane filed for divorce back in 2021 but they have yet to finalize that split do you believe the speculation that the divorce was all for show trying to protect Erica Jane from Financial uh blowback if you will well the timing of it of course was no coincidence she had every incentive to try to distance herself as much as possible from this especially in light of the fact that a criminal prosecution was on the horizon but only Erica Jen can really answered that question what was going through her mind when she filed that divorce was it to distance herself from the case or was it to distance herself from him criminal certified law specialist Lou Shapiro on the scene for us in Los Angeles Lou as always we thank you you got it as we head to break let's take a look at Wall Street we are now about 22 minutes away from the closing bell as you can see the Dow continues its downward struggles although it is off of its uh low earlier about an hour and a half ago right now the Dow at 4150 above 41,000 so your 401k is not suffering that much we're back out on the scene in 3 minutes stay with [Music] us if 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