When the famed Beverly Hills lawyer Tom Girardi was charged with defrauding clients to the tune of an eye-watering $15 million back in February, it marked a spectacular fall from grace for one of the most sought-after legal minds in the business.
Girardi, 83, made a name for himself as a fearsome Los Angeles-based personal injury lawyer who won multi-million dollar settlements for his clients and once worked as part of the team that represented the residents of Hinkley, California in their case against Pacific Gas & Electric –a case immortalized in the 2000 film “Erin Brokovich.”
Yet the legal eagle’s alleged fraud, which is thought to have spanned decades, would perhaps have never been uncovered, had it not been for an incident that took place more than 14,000 kilometers away in Indonesia.
