California Attorney Guilty of Federal Contempt Charge for Failing To Ensure Distribution of Settlement Funds to Relatives of Victims of Lion Air Flight 610

CHICAGO - A California attorney pleaded guilty today in Chicago to a criminal contempt of court charge for disobeying a court order that called for settlement funds to be distributed to relatives of victims killed in the crash of Lion Air Flight 610.

KEITH GRIFFIN, 54, of Temple City, Calif., entered the plea before U.S. District Judge LaShonda A. Hunt in the Northern District of Illinois. Judge Hunt set sentencing for Aug. 6, 2026.

Griffin worked for the California personal injury law firm Girardi Keese, which represented relatives of victims who were killed in the 2018 crash in the Java Sea. Girardi Keese filed civil lawsuits in federal court in Chicago against the plane's manufacturer, Boeing Co., and settled the suits in 2020. In connection with the settlements, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin ordered that the settlement funds, which included a total of $7.5 million, be sent to each client as soon as practicable. Although Boeing wired the settlement funds into Girardi Keese's client trust account in March 2020, Griffin admitted in a plea agreement that he knew for the next eight months that the firm failed to distribute the full amount of money to the clients, in contravention of Judge Durkin's order and despite the clients' repeated inquiries and demands for the money.

Griffin stated in the plea agreement that on multiple occasions he confronted another attorney at the firm, THOMAS GIRARDI, about paying the money to the clients. Griffin knew, however, that Girardi was not distributing those funds as required by Judge Durkin's order over that eight-month period, the plea agreement states. The Lion Air victims eventually received their settlement funds when another law firm's insurer paid them.

Griffin's guilty plea was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jared Hasten and Emily Vermylen.

Girardi, 86, of Seal Beach, Calif., was convicted in 2024 by a federal jury in Los Angeles of embezzling millions of dollars in settlement funds from other clients. In connection with Girardi's sentencing in that case, prosecutors in Los Angeles apprised the Court that Girardi had misappropriated the settlement funds in the Lion Air matter. Girardi was sentenced last year to more than seven years in federal prison.

Two other Girardi Keese employees were charged in Chicago as part of this investigation. Attorney DAVID LIRA, 65, of Pasadena, Calif., pleaded guilty last year to a criminal contempt charge for his willful failure to abide by Judge Durkin's settlement payment order. Lira was sentenced to four months in federal prison and four months of home confinement and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. The firm's former Chief Financial Officer, CHRISTOPHER KAMON, 51, of Palos Verdes, Calif., pleaded guilty last year to a wire fraud charge for helping Girardi embezzle the victims' settlement funds. Kamon was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison, which will run concurrently to a ten-year sentence that Kamon received in federal court in Los Angeles for a related embezzlement scheme.