Ex-Girardi CFO denied bond in $10-million 'side fraud'

The former chief financial officer of Tom Girardi's now-shuttered law firm will remain in custody after a federal judge in Los Angeles ruled Monday that his steps to liquidate his assets, stash money overseas and purchase a home in the Bahamas increased his risk of fleeing from law enforcement.

The onetime CFO, Christopher Kamon, is accused of carrying out a $10-million "side fraud" at Girardi Keese, a long-running scheme that prosecutors say included issuing checks from the law firm to contractors and other similar outfits, then accepting cash kickbacks. Through that and other alleged schemes, prosecutors say, Kamon amassed a fortune and several real estate holdings.

Kamon and others in the firm had been under scrutiny since 2020, when Girardi Keese collapsed amid accusations that millions were stolen from clients. In the years since, he has repeatedly invoked his right against self-incrimination when pressed to provide information in court proceedings.

U.S. District Court Judge Dale S. Fischer dismissed the idea that Kamon's efforts to move overseas were driven by a desire for a new, clean beginning.

"Kamon paints this as a 'fresh start,' but there is a fine line between a 'fresh start' and fleeing justice when one has been in close contact with an enormous fraud," Fischer wrote in her ruling ordering Kamon's detention. Fischer said she was open to considering another bond package that could assure Kamon's appearance in court if he was released, but that the current proposal — which included the homes of relatives and a friend — was insufficient.

The 49-year-old was arrested on a wire fraud charge in November as he arrived in a Baltimore airport on a flight from the Bahamas. Since then, Kamon has been held in federal custody even as his lawyers have unsuccessfully pressed for his release. If convicted, he faces up to 14 years in prison on the wire fraud charge.

Kamon's defense attorney, Jack DiCanio, said in court that his client was not hiding or plotting an escape: he purchased a home in the Bahamas in his name, told friends and family of his plan to move overseas and made regular trips between the U.S. and the Caribbean nation.

"When you take a critical look at each of the facts," said DiCanio, "I think you find they are all consistent with someone wanting to start a new life, as opposed to someone wanting to hide from law enforcement."

“All of these acts were done in his own name, in a jurisdiction where it's very easy for the government to extradite him back to the U.S.," he added.

Fischer, the judge, interjected: "'Very easy' is not the correct terminology."

Prosecutors emphasized that Kamon could have made his "fresh start" in Nevada, where he once owned a home, or Maryland, where a relative lives. Instead, he wired $2 million to the Bahamas and $700,000 to Hungary, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Ali Moghaddas.

"And a home he owns outright in Bahamas," Moghaddas added. "He’s already acted on his intent to flee."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.