By Fred Shuster | City News Service

A federal judge in downtown Los Angeles said Monday that she will sentence disgraced former legal heavyweight Tom Girardi — who was convicted of ripping off $15 million from injured clients in a long-running Ponzi scheme — to prison Tuesday rather than a treatment center for his age-related dementia.

During a nearly three-hour hearing, U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton heard testimony from two government medical experts and two defense witnesses, and ultimately determined that the U.S. Bureau of Prisons can adequately house and care for Girardi despite his cognitive impairment.

In an unexpected moment, Girardi — who turns 86 on Tuesday — took the stand and exhibited both confusion about the past and awareness of his current surroundings in Los Ange

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