Crime

Tom Girardi, the disgraced powerhouse attorney known for his marriage to "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Erika Jayne, has been found guilty of embezzling more than $15 million from former clients.

A federal jury issued the verdict Tuesday in Los Angeles, where the famed lawyer stood trial for running a fraud scheme between 2010 and 2020 ... in which he pilfered millions from settlement funds from several clients. Girardi was found guilty on 4 counts of wire fraud.

Girardi's defense attorney, Charles Snyder, painted a different picture for the jury ... claiming others at TG's now-defunct law firm Girardi Keese -- which represented plaintiffs in several high-profile cases, including the one against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. dramatized in the film "Erin Brockovich" -- stole the funds as Girardi's mental health declined.

Cops in New Jersey say a Florida man whipped out a steak knife and lunged at another diner during a heated argument over spilled wine in a restaurant ... and it's all on video!!!

Intense footage from inside celebrity chef David Burke's Red Horse restaurant shows the wild altercation ... and the tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife.

The video picks up with a restaurant manager trying to calm down two parties at neighboring tables ... and a guy in a white shirt, who cops say ultimately gets cut by a knife, tells the other group, "You shouldn't be doing medication and drinking martinis."

8/29 -- 12:01 PM PT -- Roberto Orcí's spokesperson Sallie Hofmeister tells TMZ ...  "Ms. Taylor’s counterclaim is an attempt to retaliate against her husband with fabricated allegations after he got a restraining order against her, filed for divorce, and sued her in June for assault, battery, and financially abusing him when he was vulnerable and trying to get treatment for alcoholism. Her history of violent behavior is well documented, having been arrested at least twice during their marriage--once after she tried strangling her husband and he called the police, and once when a Vegas hotel called the authorities after Mr. Orci showed up in the lobby, locked out of his room by his wife, bloodied and half dressed. Ms. Taylor was also detained after assaulting immigration officials at LAX."

The statement concludes, "Before Mr. Orci’s recovery, Ms. Taylor would ply him with alcohol and beat him relentlessly. On separate occasions, she hit him with a baseball bat, shot him with a taser then sprayed him with Mace, threw him down a set of stairs, and punched him multiple times while he was driving. In 2022 and 2023, she transferred without her husband’s knowledge at least $1.2 million from their joint bank account to foreign banks. Now, she is fabricating salacious allegations in a desperate attempt to extract more money from him."

"The Blacklist" actress Adele Heather Taylor is responding to allegations of domestic violence from her estranged husband, screenwriter Roberto Orcí ... claiming in a new countersuit that she's the real victim ... accusing him of rape and assault.

Police have identified and charged a woman accused of jumping a zoo fence in an attempt to pet a tiger in a now-viral video ... and cops say she's trespassed into more than one dangerous restricted area.

ICYMI ... the Internet was sent into a tizzy after footage of a woman climbing into a tiger enclosure at the Cohanzick Zoo in Bridgeton, New Jersey made the rounds last week.

At the time, Bridgeton Police were eager to track down the culprit ... as she violated a city ordinance against climbing over or on any zoo fence -- and violated common sense too.

Greg Swindell -- a former MLB pitcher who helped the Diamondbacks win the 2001 World Series -- is pleading for the public's help ... after he says his daughter has gone missing.

The 59-year-old wrote in a Facebook post over the weekend that Brenna Swindell, a single mom of three, went missing from the Austin, Texas area last Thursday -- and he and his family are worried sick about her.

Greg says her phone's been turned off and she has not been in contact with any one of her Swindell relatives -- including her own children.

DaniLeigh apparently thought being famous could get her out of trouble -- at least, that’s what it looks like in newly released bodycam footage from her DUI hit-and-run arrest back in May 2023.

The video is a shocker -- you can hear DaniLeigh try to tell Miami cops they can't arrest her 'cause she's an artist, in particular an R&B singer -- all this after authorities say she struck a teen on a moped with her car ... and left him with a kidney laceration and a spinal fracture.

She tells one officer she's with Quavo, who is seen off to the side early in the video, along with a couple of his security guys. The cop tells them to back up when they ask what's going on.

Cops in Florida arrested a driver who they claim was brandishing a firearm during a heated road rage incident ... and it looks like it was all captured on video!!!

The Port St. Lucie Police Department released footage Thursday showing a driver getting out of a Mercedes-Benz and walking up to a couple in a pickup truck ... with a gun in hand.

The man, who police say is 63-year-old Paul Slane, appears to point the firearm at the 2 motorists as he repeatedly reaches inside the vehicle.

This is scary ... cops in Arizona are searching for a man they say threatened to kill Donald Trump, and police are scouring the border for him on the same day the former president is making a visit.

The Cochise County Sheriff's Office announced a manhunt Thursday for a 66-year-old man named Ronald Lee Syrvud, who law enforcement says is "being sought as an investigative lead for threats to kill a presidential candidate."

Cochise County includes Sierra Vista, Arizona ... where Trump is visiting the U.S.-Mexico border today to make remarks on what he calls "the plague of migrant crime."

12:33 PM PT -- Welp. It turns out Pitino was in a joking mood following the burglary ... 'cause he's now saying he did NOT lose a pricey bottle of juice in the process.

"The 1985 Petrus was a joke🤣🤣," Pitino said minutes ago. "I would never keep that on my desk! Saving that one in a wine cellar to open after the Johnnies go to the final four!"

Very funny, Coach. Very funny.

Rick Pitino is PISSED after a couple of crooks allegedly broke into his St. John's office and jacked some of his keepsakes ... mostly because the haul included a bottle of wine that comes with an eye-popping price tag.

Two men found their way into the legendary coach's Carnesecca Arena quarters around 6 PM on Tuesday ... and snagged "various items" before fleeing the area on a moped, NYPD said in a statement.

According to the NY Post ... $375 in goods -- including memorabilia, a sword, mask and bottles of alcohol -- were taken during the heist. When Pitino broke his silence on the burglary on Thursday, he explained he didn't really care too much about the memorabilia ... but the booze?? That's a different story.

A Florida mom is facing a child abuse charge after she allegedly helped her daughter fight another teen at a bus stop ... while onlookers watched and filmed.

In a video making the rounds online ... cops say 34-year-old Kathryn Stephanopoulos is the woman seen getting into the fray as her teen daughter faces off against another girl.

Rather than break up the fight, it appears that Stephanopoulos puts her daughter's opponent into a headlock ... allowing her daughter to throw more punches.

"Hangover" actress Nathalie Fay is now required to keep her distance from her on-again, off-again boyfriend William Brady ... as she's been hit with a restraining order.

TMZ broke the story ... when the actress -- whose real name is Nathalie Tordion -- was arrested in South Miami, Florida for allegedly punching Brady in the face.

William now wants Nathalie to steer clear of him ... new court documents show she's been ordered to stay at least 500 feet away from her beau, and she's not to contact him through writing, social media, calls -- or any other form of communication.

A group of gunmen got the drop on some unsuspecting people at a gas station ... firing off multiple shots before quickly booking it in newly released surveillance video.

Cops finally released footage from the shooting last year that left a man dead ... and, it begins with a white car pulling into a South L.A. parking lot.

Check out the clip ... two people jump out the back of the car, guns cocked and ready -- and they start shooting, one firing at a car parked next to a gas pump and the other firing at another car and a person sprinting away down the sidewalk.

A woman was viciously thrown into oncoming traffic multiple times ... and the shocking footage has hit the internet, showing just how brutal her ordeal really was.

The video is seriously disturbing, so watch at your own risk -- it shows a man beating, punching and stomping on a woman as she just barely dodges speeding cars in the carpool lane several times on the busy 210 Freeway in Pasadena around 5:30 AM on August 7.

You can see the woman’s fighting for her life against the attacker -- identified by authorities as 33-year-old Juan Pablo Flores -- but he keeps knocking her down to keep up the cold-blooded assault.

Scott Peterson is finally speaking from behind bars ... 20 years after he was convicted of killing his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn child.

In the new "Face to Face with Scott Peterson" Peacock doc, the convicted murderer maintains his innocence ... and sticks to his guns about his long-standing theory his pregnant wife Laci was abducted by strangers who were burglarizing a neighboring home.

Scott spoke on camera for the first time from California's Mule Creek State Prison ... detailing his assertions about Laci's death with interviewer Shareen Anderson for the 3-part doc, which digs into alternate theories about Laci’s death.

Thomas Matthew Crooks was casually strolling around the Butler, PA rally just hours before he attempted to assassinate Donald Trump ... new video shows.

Newly uncovered footage recorded at 4:26 PM shows Crooks in his final hours back on July 13 ... walking around the premises without his backpack -- or the rifle he later used in his failed assassination attempt on Trump.

In the footage, he’s seen gazing off into the distance in what was the calm before the storm.

Brooke Mueller had the support of her rarely-seen-in-public twins, Bob and Max ... who helped ring in her birthday just days after her connection to Matthew Perry's ketamine investigation surfaced.

Charlie Sheen's ex-wife and their 15-year-old sons came together for a pic to celebrate her 47th birthday bash at her mother Moira Fiore and stepfather Jon Fiore's Beverly Hills home Saturday.

Brooke was in full-on doting mama mode ... talking about how grateful she was for her kids, according to the Daily Mail.