U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois
Thomas M. Durkin, currently presiding over a series of lawsuits concerning Boeing’s 2018 Max 8 crash in Indonesia, found that lawyer
Thomas Girardi stole at least $2 million worth of client funds that are owed to the families of the people killed during that tragic incident.
During a Monday morning contempt hearing, Durkin said Girardi’s misappropriation of client funds was unconscionable and indicated that he would refer the attorney’s conduct to the local U.S. Attorney’s office for criminal investigation.
While excoriating the lawyer’s alleged theft, the judge noted that the intended beneficiaries of those funds are “widows” and “orphans.”