US EditionEx-lawyer for Tom Girardi’s LA firm pleads guilty in case of unpaid legal settlements
Griffin admitted withholding $7.5 million in settlement funds for eight months despite court orders in a case tied to a broader embezzlement scandal involving Girardi Keese.
- On Thursday, Keith Griffin, 54, pleaded guilty to one count of criminal contempt before U.S. District Judge LaShonda A. Hunt in Chicago federal court.
- Failing to distribute the ordered funds for eight months prompted the contempt charge after Boeing wired $7.5 million into Girardi Keese's account and Judge Durkin ordered apportionment.
- Prosecutors initially charged Griffin with four contempt counts, and the plea agreement states they will not recommend more than four months while his lawyers seek probation; Griffin worked on the Lion Air Flight 610 litigation at Girardi Keese.
- Sentencing is set for Aug. 6, 2026, and Lion Air victims ultimately received their settlement payments when another law firm's insurer paid them.
- Girardi Keese's collapse followed revelations of misappropriated settlement funds; Girardi, convicted in 2024 and serving over seven years, and colleagues Lira and Kamon pleaded guilty last year.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Former Girardi firm lawyer pleads guilty over failure to pay orphans, widows of plane crash victims
A former attorney in Tom Girardi's firm pleaded guilty to a federal criminal contempt charge over the failure to pay settlement funds from Boeing to the families of plane crash victims.
Ex-Girardi Law Firm attorney pleads guilty to disobeying court order
LOS ANGELES (KESQ) - A lawyer who worked for disbarred and now-imprisoned attorney Tom Girardi's Los Angeles-based law firm pleaded guilty today in Chicago to disobeying a court order that called for settlement funds to be distributed to relatives of victims killed in a plane crash. Keith Griffin, 54, of Temple City, worked for the now-defunct personal injury law firm Girardi Keese, which represented relatives of victims who were killed in the 2…
Daily Breeze
Ex-lawyer for Tom Girardi’s LA firm pleads guilty in case of unpaid legal settlements
A lawyer who worked for disbarred and now-imprisoned attorney Tom Girardi‘s Los Angeles-based law firm pleaded guilty Thursday in Chicago to disobeying a court order that called for settlement funds to be distributed to relatives of victims killed in a plane crash. Keith Griffin, 54, of Temple City, worked for the now-defunct personal injury law firm Girardi Keese, which represented relatives of victims who were killed in the 2018 Lion Air crash…
Ex-Girardi Keese Attorney Keith Griffin Pleads Guilty, Admits Violating Court Order to Pay Lion Air Clients
Keith Griffin, 54, worked at Girardi Keese until 2020, when the firm collapsed amid accusations that founder Tom Girardi had been running a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme out of his law office.
Girardi Law Firm Lawyer Pleads Guilty in Client Funds Case
A former attorney affiliated with the once-prominent plaintiffs’ firm founded by Tom Girardi has pleaded guilty to criminal contempt in a federal case involving the mishandling of client settlement funds. The development marks another chapter in the ongoing legal fallout tied to the collapse of the well-known California law firm Girardi Keese and the broader scandal surrounding its former leadership. The guilty plea relates to the attorney’s rol…
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