DiNardo’s Shady Past and Hidden Deals
The lawsuit also revisits Joseph DiNardo’s own checkered history. After earning his law license in 1973, DiNardo was suspended in 1997 following a tax fraud charge and later pled guilty to a lesser offense. Though reinstated in 2004, he did not return to active legal practice, instead using his firm as a litigation financing vehicle — a move trustees claim enabled backdoor funding and profit-sharing with Girardi.
Between 2002 and 2020, the two attorneys allegedly entered multiple undisclosed fee-sharing deals, all without clients’ knowledge or written consent.
Trustees Demand Recovery of Missing Millions
In late 2022, Chapter 7 trustee Elissa D. Miller demanded the return of the transferred funds and corresponding assets, sending letters and emails to Diamantis and D&D II. But according to the filing, no documents were ever produced, and no funds were returned.
The trustees now seek full recovery of the $3.16 million and damages under fraudulent transfer statutes, claiming that Girardi and DiNardo’s network of payments and shell entities was designed to “hinder, delay, and defraud creditors.”
“This was a deliberate scheme to conceal and misuse client funds,” the complaint asserts. “The beneficiaries of these transfers knew, or should have known, the money’s illicit origins.”
