"We are going to do everything we can to make it quicker," he wrote. Mr Ramadhan has shown the ABC a letter Mr Girardi sent him in October, promising to pay the full settlement amount by November 29. The ABC has sought comment from Mr Girardi and his lawyers, but so far has had no response. "I was duped by someone from America that we didn't even know." "I'm angry, I'm disappointed at myself," he said. 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. Mr Ramadhan also repeatedly emailed and texted Mr Girardi and Girardi Keese lawyers in vain last year, demanding to know when the families would receive their full payout.īut he received no proper explanation. Girardi and wife's lavish lifestyle broadcast on television "I was so angry, that so much money could be stolen, just like that," he said. Judge Rijal Mahdi was one of many professionals on board the early Lion Air commuter flight. The ABC has been shown a series of email exchanges between Mr Rizki and a lawyer for Girardi Keese dated between September and October 2020 in which Mr Rizki repeatedly asks for an update on the transfer of his money. Multi Rizki – whose father Rijal Mahdi died in the Lion Air plane crash – is yet to receive any money from his settlement. "How could he take it?" she cries, referring to Mr Girardi. "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. Some instalments, covering about half or more of the agreed settlement amounts, were eventually paid to the Indonesian clients, including to Mr Ramadhan's family.īut 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.Įach of the families is still owed about $US500,000. They soon began to suspect Mr Girardi had pocketed some of the money for himself.Ĭourt records show that Boeing forwarded millions of dollars in settlements for the four families in March 2020 and wired the money directly to a Girardi Keese trust account. Mr Ramadhan and four other families agreed to settle with Boeing in early 2020.īut months after they signed the settlement agreements, there was no word on when they would be paid in full. The Indonesian families had good reason to hope Mr Girardi would secure a similar settlement for them in their wrongful death lawsuit against Boeing. He was later named 'lawyer of the decade' by the International Association of Top Professionals. It was Mr Girardi who as trial lawyer effectively won the landmark case that inspired the Oscar-winning film Erin Brockovich, after he secured a $US333 million settlement for hundreds of victims of a power company accused of contaminating their water supply. "They told me that they could get justice for me, that we could never get here in Indonesia."īias Ramadhan's family is suing Mr Girardi after receiving only part of his settlement amount. "Everything I researched online about the company was good - that he was the best lawyer, it was the best law firm in America," Mr Ramadhan told the ABC. 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. In the days and weeks after the tragedy, at the height of the families' grief, lawyers began circling and pitching for business.Īs the eldest son, it fell to Mr Ramadhan to choose who would represent his family. The Boeing 737 MAX she was on plunged into the Java Sea just minutes after take-off, killing all 189 passengers and crew onboard. She'd made the trip countless times before but on October 29, 2018, Ibu Hasnawati never arrived. 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.Īlmost every Monday, Mr Ramadhan's mother, Hasnawati binti Nawazar, would take the first flight from her hometown Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang, where she was a high court judge.
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