Where Will Tom Girardi Go to Prison? Judge Determines Facility Amid Dementia Concerns

The Bravo series Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is no stranger to drama. Whether it's infighting between besties or squabbling over who's to blame for old feuds, there's always something popping off on the series. Even so, when RHOBH husband Tom Girardi was arrested on suspicion of fraud and embezzlement, it was another level entirely.

Tom, formerly married to RHOBH star Erika Jayne, was sentenced in June 2025 for multiple crimes stemming from his career as an attorney. But where will Tom go to prison now that his sentence has been handed down? Between concerns about dementia and the celebrity effect, it's an interesting question. Here's what we know.

On June 4, 2025, a judge sentenced Tom to seven years in federal prison for stealing money from former clients, according to NBC News. The 86-year-old former lawyer was convicted of embezzling millions of dollars over a decade from a settlement fund meant for clients who were victims of the 2018 Lion Air crash in the Java Sea, which was responsible for the deaths of 89 people, the outlet reports.

During the trial, defense lawyers tried to argue that Tom was suffering from dementia and should receive special consideration as a result. However, during sentencing, the judge consulted with the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and other specialists to determine whether or not he would need to be placed in a dementia care facility.

Those evaluations suggested that Tom was capable of serving time.

The judge responded to defense counsel's concerns by reassuring them, "He will be designated to an appropriate facility" (per NBC Los Angeles).

It's unclear exactly where Tom will serve his time, and it has not been publicly stated, at least not yet. However, there are a number of options in the Los Angeles area, so it remains to be seen which one the judge determines appropriate for his care needs that also fits the standard of his crimes.

Ever since their divorce in 2020, Erika has seemed to distance herself from Tom. And that was even before he was arrested and later found guilty in 2024.

Initially, rumors suggested that she was both aware of and involved in Tom's crimes. However, she was later cleared.

On the March 2025 season finale of RHOBH, Erika spoke about what it felt like to hear that "guilty" verdict: "When I found out about the verdict, the wall started to close in — it immediately took me back a couple of years when everything was just out of control. My drinking, my medication, it was just all of this pressure. And I thought, ‘Oh, my God. It's happening again. It's happening again.’ I literally felt like I was being dragged down, like I was being dragged under the ground" (excerpt via People).

Yet in an interview with Vogue U.K., Erika seemed to take a stern stance when speaking on Tom's crimes, telling the magazine, "We all go through things — you have to realize that you’re not the only one. And you have to find the will to take baby steps until you feel more comfortable, and those baby steps might last for a long time."

Overall, Erika seems somewhat torn over the fate of her ex-husband of 22 years, musing during the RHOBH finale, “It's not as easy as everyone thinks. I loved Tom very much. There's part of me that still loves Tom very much. I have incredible memories, I have terrible memories, and I wish things were not this way.”

While she told Bravo's Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen that she no longer has contact with Tom, she seems to still feel something about her ex.

In that March 25 RHOBH finale, Erika told her friend and co-star Kyle Richards, "Tom was loved, he was admired, he was accomplished,” she said. “And this is how his story ended. I don't know that I'll ever get over that.”