LOS ANGELES, CA — A former accounting chief at the now-defunct Los Angeles law firm Girardi Keese has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his role in the embezzlement of millions of dollars, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
Christopher Kazuo Kamon, 51, a former Encino and Palos Verdes resident, was arrested in November 2022 after an investigation by federal authorities unveiled he defrauded clients out of settlement money, using the misappropriated funds for his own and the law firm’s benefit, according to federal prosecutors.
Kamon pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in October 2024.
“This defendant played a key role in a long-running scheme led by Tom Girardi,” said United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “For nearly 20 years, Kamon enabled Girardi’s scheme to defraud vulnerable clients of the law firm. Ironically, it was Kamon’s own lies that accelerated the law firm’s demise.”
On one occasion, without prior approval, he negotiated a $53 million settlement for a burn victim, according to the United States Attorney’s Office. He then lied to his client, telling them the case settled for around $7 million and then wired nearly $30 million into the law firm’s client trust account, federal prosecutors said.
Kamon admitted in a separate criminal case that he embezzled funds from the law firm for his enrichment, including creating fake invoices to use the law firm’s money to pay for construction projects at his Palos Verdes and Encino homes, according to federal prosecutors.
Kamon also used the money he embezzled to buy a multi-million home in the Bahamas, according to the FBI.
Girardi, Kamon’s co-conspirator, helped him get away with the crime, lying to clients by telling them their money had been transferred to an interest-bearing account, federal prosecutors said.
They then used funds from other settlements to pay out the money from the fake interest-bearing accounts to clients, according to federal prosecutors.
“Mr. Kamon ran the law firm’s bank account like a Ponzi scheme and profited handsomely for many years,” said Amir Ehsaei, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The FBI will continue to investigate corruption in the legal profession and will seek to make victims whole.”
Girardi was convicted of four counts of wire fraud on Aug. 27, 2024, and is still awaiting sentencing. His law firm was dissolved in 2021, and he was disbarred by the State Bar of California a year later.
Kamon, Girardi and Girardi’s son-in-law David R. Lira also face federal charges in a separate Chicago trial, federal prosecutors said.