Disgraced Tom Girardi used clients' money 'like a personal piggy bank'

Disgraced attorney - estranged husband of star - used money belonging to clients' like a 'personal piggy bank' while swindling them out of millions of dollars in settlement funds, a federal court in heard Tuesday.

In one case of a man badly injured in a house explosion, Girardi won a huge settlement of $53 million - but he told his client victim that the settlement was only $7 million, jurors were told during opening statements on the first day of a trial that’s expected to last a week.

Girardi, 85, - who built a powerhouse legal firm after his fight against a utility giant that inspired the Oscar-winning movie Erin Brockovich - is charged with four counts of wire fraud, which he's pleaded not guilty to. A fifth wire fraud charge against him was dismissed last week.

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