The once-trusted head accountant of the Girardi Keese law firm, Christopher Kazuo Kamon, exchanged his office for a prison cell, as he was charged with a 121-month sentence for his role in a multi-million dollar fraud that victimized both the firm and its clients. The charge, delivered by United States District Judge Josephine L. Staton, comes with an additional order for Kamon to pay an eye-watering $8,903,324 in restitution, as per a report from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
During Kamon’s tenure, which spanned from 2004 until the firm’s collapse in 2020, the accountant engaged in schemes that lined his and co-defendant Thomas Vincent Girardi's pockets with misappropriated settlement funds. United States Attorney Bill Essayli characterized Kamon as a pivotal cog in this "long-running scheme," stating, “For nearly 20 years, Kamon enabled Girardi’s scheme to defraud vulnerable clients of the law firm,” in a statement obtained by the U.S. Attorney’s Office..
Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher of IRS Criminal Investigation highlighted the financial trail leading to Kamon’s conviction. “Mr. Kamon was a willful participant in defrauding Girardi Keese clients out of their rightful lawsuit awards,” he said. “Unfortunately for Mr. Kamon, money leaves a trail, and IRS Criminal Investigation is the best in the world at finding and following those trails, and now Mr. Kamon will feel the consequences of his actions,” Hatcher added, echoing the sentiments of Essayli.
At the heart of this financial debacle was the misappropriation of a $53 million settlement for a client severely burned in a 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion. Unbeknownst to the victim, Girardi, with Kamon's substantial assistance, falsely reported the settlement as a far lower amount and misallocated the bulk to unrelated expenses. Fraudulent activities such as these ultimately contributed to the crumbling of the prestige Girardi Keese once held in the legal community and paved the way for the firm's forced bankruptcy in late 2020.
