Indonesian families of Lion Air crash victims suffer again, ‘predatory’ lawyer evades jail

For Indonesian families who lost loved ones in the 2018 Lion Air crash that killed 189 people, the latest development in the US courts has deepened their pain that justice remains out of reach.Keith Griffin, a Californian lawyer who worked with disgraced Hollywood celebrity lawyer Tom Girardi in compensation suits related to the crash, was sentenced by a federal court in Chicago last week to one day in prison with credit for time served, meaning he avoided any further time behind bars.Girardi’s firm represented some of the Lion Air victims’ families in claims against Boeing, which agreed to pay undisclosed compensation after the crash of Lion Air flight JT610, one of two fatal disasters involving the US firm’s 737 Max planes.Griffin had pleaded guilty to criminal contempt of court after admitting that he knew Girardi had failed to distribute settlement funds to families of the Lion Air victims, despite a court order requiring the money to be paid.He was also sentenced to two years of supervised release, under which he must comply with conditions set by the court and report to probation officials.His boss Girardi was convicted of illegally pocketing more than US$2 million in money meant for the victims’ families and US$15 million in other compensation and personal injury cases. Last year, he was sentenced to over seven years in prison. He has also declared bankruptcy and was disbarred.