LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge sentenced disbarred celebrity lawyer Tom Girardi to seven years and three months in prison on Tuesday for embezzling tens of millions of dollars from his clients, including several with severe physical injuries and families of people killed in accidents.
U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton also ordered Girardi, 86, to pay a $35,000 fine and $2.3 million in restitution to former clients. A jury in August found him guilty of four counts of wire fraud, and he could have been sentenced to up to 80 years in prison.
Girardi is the estranged husband of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne and appeared on the show himself dozens of times between 2015 and 2020.
He was once among the most prominent lawyers in the nation, often representing victims of major disasters against powerful companies. One lawsuit against California’s Pacific Gas and Electric utility led to a $333 million settlement and was portrayed in the 2000 Julia Roberts film “Erin Brockovich.”
But his law empire collapsed, and he was disbarred in California in 2022 over client thefts.
Girardi has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and issues with his memory led another court to put him in a conservatorship under his brother. But on Monday, Staton ruled that he was mentally competent to be sentenced, just as she had previously found him mentally competent to stand trial.
The judge had allowed him to remain free until his sentencing but ordered him to surrender to authorities by July 17.
An email to Girardi’s attorney seeking comment on the conviction was not immediately answered.
Former clients who testified against Girardi at his trial included an Arizona woman whose husband was killed in a boat accident and victims who were burned in a 2010 gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, south of San Francisco.
Prosecutors played jurors voicemails in which Girardi gave a litany of false reasons money that a court had awarded could not be paid, including tax and debt obligations and judge authorizations. He frequently told them, “Don't be mad at me.”
FILE - Attorney Tom Girardi smiles outside the Los Angeles courthouse, July 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Management and union leaders at Samsung Electronics failed to reach a last-minute deal over wages Wednesday, raising prospects for a strike at the South Korean electronics giant that could rattle global semiconductor supplies and the country’s trade-dependent economy.
Government officials have threatened to invoke rarely used emergency powers to force a settlement at Samsung, where the union, which represents more than 70,000 workers, says the company has failed to offer adequate compensation despite its soaring profits fueled by the global boom in artificial intelligence.
After the latest round of talks ended without a breakthrough on Wednesday, union leader Choi Seung-ho told reporters that unionized workers will begin an 18-day strike from Thursday.
Both the union and the management held each other responsible for a failure to reach a deal. Choi accused management of refusing to accept a government-mediated proposal whose details he refused to disclose. The management accused the union of calling for excessive compensation packages for workers at loss-making units.
The two sides said they will continue efforts to reach a deal. The two sides met again Wednesday afternoon at the arrangement of Labor Minister Kim Younghoon, according to Kim’s ministry.
Samsung and its cross-town rival, SK Hynix, together produce about two-thirds of the world’s memory chips, which are seeing surging demand driven by AI. Samsung said last month its operating profit for the January-March quarter jumped eightfold to a record 57.2 trillion won ($38 billion).
Union leaders have demanded a compensation structure in which Samsung would commit to spend 15% of its annual operating profit on employee bonuses and scrap bonus caps, which are currently set at 50% of annual salaries. The company says the demands are excessive, citing the highly cyclical nature of the semiconductor business.
Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, the government’s No. 2 official after President Lee Jae Myung, said in a televised statement Sunday that the strike could cause up to 100 trillion won ($66 billion) in economic damage by disrupting Samsung’s highly complex semiconductor manufacturing processes.
The planned strike also has a potential global impact. Given that supply in the global memory semiconductor market is struggling to keep up with demand, the Samsung strike was expected to further drive up prices and push back AI infrastructure investments in other countries, said Lee Jun, an expert at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade.
The strike was expected to hurt operations of Samsung’s production of smartphones and other consumer electronics as well, observers say.
A local court on Monday partially granted the company’s request for an injunction against the planned strike, ruling that the union must maintain certain staffing levels to prevent damage to facilities and materials and ensure safe operations. The Suwon District Court also barred unionists from occupying key facilities and offices.
The logo of the Samsung Electronics Co. is seen at its office in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
The logo of the Samsung Electronics Co. is seen at its office in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Choi Seung-ho, a leader of the Samsung Electronics labor union, leaves after attending the government-led mediation talks with management at the National Labor Relations Commission office in Sejong, South Korea, Wednesday, May 20, 2026 (Yonhap via AP)
