For close to a year and a half now, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne has been implicated in the alleged embezzlement schemes of her ex-husband Tom Girardi. He reportedly stole millions in funds from both his colleagues at the Girardi & Keese law firm as well as his clientele who were owed compensations. Jayne has frequently been touted as having aided and abetted the lawyer in these crimes to upkeep her rich lifestyle. In the latest update on the situation, new court documents levelled more accusations at the reality star in a $50 million, alleging she is part of the “largest criminal racketeering enterprise” in history.
The legal documents in question were filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, April 5, according to Page Six. They pertain to the families of the Lion Air plane crash victims, who allegedly never received money owed to them by Tom Girardi. Erika Jayne was technically dropped from a previous Lion Air lawsuit back in January, but it would appear it has been refiled (as bankruptcy trustee counsel Ronald Richards predicted). She has been named again alongside her ex, with racketeering and aiding and abetting included among the nine different complaints in the $50 million case.
Interestingly, the filing made on behalf of the victims implied that the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum was actually the “frontwoman of the operation” by means of selling Girardi’s good name to the public. It further alleged that, in the total scope of the scheme, the firm stole over $100 million from all the parties concerned. The docs firmly added:
As the layers have been pulled back more and more each day with the pending bankruptcies of Girardi Keese and Tom, and the torrent of claims and investigations that came in the wake of the firm’s collapse, the real story is one that seems like a tale out of a John Grisham novel: Girardi Keese was little more than a criminal enterprise, disguised as a law firm.
Erika Jayne has continuously denied any involvement in Tom Girardi’s dealings. However, the new court documents allege that she has been lying, and that she has tried to assist her ex and others in “getting away” with the supposed crimes. Jay Edelson of Edelson PC, who is representing the crash victims’ families, said in a statement to Page Six:
The victims of Tom’s fraud have had to sit back and watch Erika spend obscene amounts of money as they had nothing. This is a giant step forward in obtaining real accountability for what was the largest criminal racketeering enterprise in the history of plaintiff’s law. It’s time for her to stop the lies and start taking some accountability.
This isn’t the only lawsuit that Erika Janye is currently embroiled in. She and her EJ Global entertainment company are also named in a $2.1 million suit coming from the mother of late NFL star Chuck Osbourne, where she was again accused of aiding and abetting Tom Girardi. According to the previous reporting from Ronald Richards, former counsel for the trustee in the Chapter 7 bankruptcy case, there are reportedly two other pending actions as well against the star.
In the interim, Erika Jayne continues to headline the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, which is in the midst of filming Season 14. She has been clear in the past that she needs that Bravo paycheck, and judging by these high-dollar lawsuits keeping her busy, it's perhaps not difficult to understand why.
