State Bar Court Judge Alison R. Worthington has scheduled a 12-day hearing to decide disciplinary charges against former Los Angeles County Bar Association President Paul Robert Kiesel, whose name has come up repeatedly in connection with the Department of Water and Power (“DWP”) overbilling scandal. On Feb. 25, Kiesel was charged by the Office of Chief Trial Counsel (“OCTC”) with having “intentionally committed acts involving moral turpitude, dishonesty, and corruption.”
A status conference was held before Worthington on July 20 and the following day, she issued an order specifying that trial will be held next year on March 9-12, March 16-19 and March 23-26.
According to a Sept. 23 declaration signed by Kiesel’s counsel, Jack F. Altura of Womble Bond Dickinson LLP, the parties stipulated to a protective order during discovery negotiations which would cover any “OCTC investigative materials and non-public federal criminal investigative documents OCTC obtained from” the U.S. Attorney’s Office under a non-disclosure agreement.
Worthington issued the protective order, and granted a joint motion to seal it, on Sept. 28.
The next event will be a status conference before Worthington on Dec. 7, to be followed by a voluntary settlement conference before State Bar Court Judge Dennis G. Saab on Feb. 8.
Kiesel, a Beverly Hills lawyer, is alleged to have participated in setting up a sham case against the City of Los Angeles which the defendant controlled. The ploy is said to have been aimed at minimizing the city’s damages.
Kiesel was an attorney for Antwon Jones, lead plaintiff in an action against the city in connection with massive overbillings of ratepayers. He also represented the city, as special counsel, in a lawsuit against PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP which the city blamed for providing a shoddy billing system, leading to the erroneous billings.
The city hired Kiesel along with then-New York attorney Paul Paradis, now disbarred in connection with the matter.
The OCTC alleges:
“Between in or about January 2015 and…March 2019, while serving as special counsel to the City…regarding the LADWP ratepayer billing issues arising from the [billing] system,…respondent colluded with multiple individuals, including attorneys…represent[ing] the plaintiffs in the matter, and the City of Los Angeles to structure, position, and settle Jones v. City in a manner that served the interests of the City…, while concealing…and failing to disclose this collusion to the court overseeing and approving the settlement….”
It asserts that Kiesel made “false and misleading statements” during a deposition conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
On Nov. 7, 2023, Paradis was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. of the Central District of California to 33 months in prison for his participation in the scheme. Paradis has accused Mike Feuer of lying about his lack of involvement in what took place while he was Los Angeles city attorney from 2013-22.
Feuer has been mentioned prominently as a possible knowing participant in the skullduggery, but is not the subject of disciplinary proceedings, at present. He is currently a senior policy advisor for Inner City Law Center which advocates for tenants and the homeless.
The opening brief in the Ninth Circuit appeal by Thomas V. Girardi of his August 2024 conviction on four counts of wire fraud was due last December but there has been one extension after another. On June 26, one more extension—declared to be the last—was granted, giving the defendant until Sept. 22.
On Sept. 21, another order was entered granting “a final extension of time to file the opening brief,” declaring a new due date of Dec. 21 and providing that “[n]o further motions for an extension of time to file the opening brief will be granted absent extraordinary and compelling circumstances.”
Girardi, 87, is incarcerated at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota. U.S. District Court Judge Josephine L. Staton of the Central District of California, now on senior status, denied a motion by Girardi last September for release on bond pending appeal.
The charges stemmed from failing to pay clients the full amounts of settlement proceeds, perpetrating his crimes, according to the indictment, "by means of material false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, and the concealment of material facts” which he “had a duty to disclose.”
On June 3 of last year, Staton sentenced Girardi—once wealthy, now impecunious—to seven years and three months in prison. The sentencing occurred on Girardi’s 86th birthday.
Staton ordered that Girardi make restitution in the amount of $2,310,247.26.
The anticipated release date is Aug. 1, 2031. However, Girardi, whose term began on July 17, 2025, is seeking compassionate release.
His estranged wife, Erika Jayne, noted in an episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills that Girardi is bound to die in prison, commenting: “I just kind of hoped he’d die before he’d go to prison, just so he could get it over with.”
Four years have passed since the State Bar said in a Sept. 27, 2022 news release:
"The State Bar of California’s Board of Trustees Chair Ruben Duran announced today that the State Bar is investigating attorneys Mark John Geragos (State Bar No. 108325) and Brian Stephen Kabateck (State Bar No. 152054) in connection with the Armenian Genocide insurance settlement funds from which dispersals were made in the U.S. and France."
Under fire for its dereliction in failing to act on complaints about Tom Girardi until his dishonesty became manifest and widely reported by the news media, that announcement was made, possibly for sake of publicity. The move could backfire if the two are exonerated for a fourth time—or what would possibly be a fifth time as to Geragos.
The disciplinary body will not comment on what progress has been made, and State Bar records show both attorneys remain on active status with no public disciplinary charges as of Sept. 29.
Kabateck has attained multi-million-dollar judgments and settlements; Geragos is a criminal defense lawyer whose clients have included Whitewater defendant Susan McDougal, former Rep. Gary Condit, actress Winona Ryder, and entertainer Michael Jackson.
Kabateck and Geragos obtained a $37.5 million settlement in separate actions against two insurers that failed to pay claims under life insurance policies issued to persons who were slain in the Armenian genocide. Prompted by Los Angeles Times articles suggesting that the lawyers mishandled funds, the State Bar is focusing on what happened to proceeds from a $17.5 million settlement with a French insurer in 2005.
While moneys are missing, the lawyers point out they had nothing to do with the distribution of the proceeds.
Geragos—who has said he will be suing the State Bar—remarked that the State Bar’s mention of Tom Girardi in its news release shows that “all they’re trying to do is deflect” attention from the debacle in failing to take action in response to decades of complaints about Girardi.
Kabateck asserted:
“This is a political stunt by the State Bar.”
