The plane crash, the Real Housewife and the missing millions: Why Indonesian families claim an LA lawyer embezzled their money

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Bias Ramadhan received calls from eight separate law firms offering to sue on his behalf after his mother died in the Lion Air plane crash. But two and half years later, he's had to sue again, to get some of the money owed to him from his settlement.

Even before his mother's body had been identified from Indonesia's Lion Air plane crash, Bias Ramadhan had calls from eight separate law firms offering to sue on his behalf for millions of dollars.

As the eldest son, it fell to Mr Ramadhan to choose who would represent his family. He eventually settled on Tom Girardi — a co-founder of the California law firm Girardi Keese – who promised to secure the best possible payout for him and his three younger siblings. But Mr Girardi's own lawyers later admitted that he had kept at least $US2 million of the money for himself, and that Mr Girardi alone controlled the accounts."It is blood money," says Ibu *Ani, whose husband Eko died in the Lion Air crash, leaving her to raise their three young daughters, then aged 10, 13 and 15."It's my children's money. He's heartless. I want it returned to me.

But he received no proper explanation. In September a company lawyer sent him a brief email blaming the COVID-19 pandemic and said that their accounting department wasn't working full-time."I was duped by someone from America that we didn't even know."Mr Ramadhan has shown the ABC a letter Mr Girardi sent him in October, promising to pay the full settlement amount by November 29.But Mr Ramadhan is still waiting.

Chicago lawyer Jay Edelson, who had worked as Mr Girardi's local counsel in multiple lawsuits against Boeing, said he too was waiting for his own payment from Girardi Keese.

 

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