Prosecutors say Tom Girardi's son-in-law should serve 3 years in lawyers' fraud case
By David Thomas
Federal prosecutors in Chicago on Wednesday said they are seeking a three-year prison sentence for David Lira, the son-in-law of convicted California attorney Tom Girardi, after Lira pleaded guilty to a single contempt charge earlier this year in connection with Girardi's failure to pay millions of dollars in settlement funds to their law firm's clients.
The government's sentencing memorandum also objected to a presentencing report prepared by the federal court's pretrial services office, saying it underplayed Lira's role in allegedly covering up fraud orchestrated by Girardi. The report recommended a 10 to 16-month sentence for Lira.
"This is a cop out for defendant," prosecutors said, asserting that Lira did nothing to stop and then lied about Girardi's alleged theft of 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.
Lira "could have made a different choice, but by protecting Girardi's thefts, defendant is complicit in the thefts," prosecutors said.
Lira's attorney Damon Cheronis said they will make their position clear in their own sentencing memo, which is due next week, and declined to comment further. He noted the government filed its memo early.
A spokesperson for the Chicago U.S. attorney's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lira pleaded guilty in June to one criminal contempt charge before U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland in Chicago. He had initially pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud, criminal contempt and making false statements to a judge in connection with the Lion Air case.
Girardi, once a prominent figure in the U.S. plaintiffs bar, was also criminally charged in Chicago, but prosecutors dropped the case after he was convicted of four counts of wire fraud in a related case in Los Angeles. He was sentenced to more than seven years in prison in the California case and has appealed.