Tom Girardi will turn himself in to state prison for a medical evaluation, the judge rules

Disgraced and unbanned attorney Tom Girardi must surrender to federal authorities early next year for a medical examination in a North Carolina prison, a judge ruled Friday.

The decision by US District Judge Josephine Staton is the equivalent of the procedure after Girardi, 85, was convicted of fraud in August. Girardi was due to be sentenced on Friday, with prosecutors seeking 14 years in prison – and one of his former associates had flown in from Indonesia to witness the trial.

But his defense attorneys had argued that Girardi's dementia and continued cognitive decline warranted keeping him out of jail and in the memory ward of his Orange County nursing home.

To resolve the dispute, Staton reversed the sentence and held a hearing on Friday where he ruled that Girardi must surrender to US Marshals on Jan. 7 and taken to the federal prison in Butner, NC, an advanced medical facility for inmates. Girardi must remain there for up to 30 days as prison staff monitor him and determine whether the prison, or another appropriate medical facility, is an appropriate place to serve the sentence.

After the evaluation, the judge said he would consider the findings of the Bureau of Prisons and re-hear before rescheduling the sentencing hearing.

“I was ready to proceed with the sentencing,” said the judge. But after attorneys raised in recent days the prospect of Girardi working at the medical center, Staton said he spent his weekend researching the issue. “The rule of law is clear, it's just the things that are used” it was, he said.

Still, Girardi's defense attorneys argued against the 30-day period in federal custody, saying it was tantamount to incarceration. Deputy Public Defender Samuel Cross asked the judge to instead consider his client in a nursing home, saying he has “special needs.”

“We expect him to break down and not do well there,” Cros said of Bunner's build. He also lamented that North Carolina was “as far away as possible” from the Orange County facility where Girardi has lived for years.

Cross also expressed concern that Girardi's cross-country transportation would inconvenience his client, with bus or plane stops along the way extending the trip.

Assistant US Atty. Scott Paetty responded that North Carolina and U.S. Marshals staff were “well-versed” in handling someone with Girardi's needs, saying skilled nursing was available around the clock. “It's the most important case the Bureau of Prisons has,” Paetty said at one point, adding that a federal psychologist was involved.

The judge said he would make it clear in his decision that Girardi would be flown to the East Coast on the day he surrendered.

Girardi was convicted of four counts of fraud in August for defrauding his law firm's clients out of millions of dollars, then using the money to write for himself and his now-estranged wife, reality TV star Erika Girardi.

Before his trial, Girardi's lawyers argued that their client was mentally impaired and suffered from a form of dementia. Staton disagreed and said Girardi was mentally retarded but competent and even showed signs of exaggerating his dementia symptoms.

At trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Girardi's law firm, Girardi Keese, was run as a Ponzi scheme, in which client payments were improperly used to pay other law firm debts or finance his capital expenditures. The company collapsed in late 2020 amid evidence that it stole accommodations from widows and orphans in the Indonesia plane crash, and hundreds of former customers and vendors came forward to say they were collectively defrauded of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Girardi testified in his own defense, where some of his alleged mental retardation was presented to the jury. “Every client gets all the money every client is entitled to,” he told the judges.

“Is your law firm still open, Tom?” Cross asked.

“Yes,” Girardi said.

The jury acquitted him after four hours of deliberation.