The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 14 has shown Erika Jayne moving on up. However, the entertainer still has a battle ahead of her. The newest season showed a raw Erika, pulling back the layers of the last five years. She shared with viewers that she struggled with depression due to Tom Girardi’s actions. But she has picked herself up by her bootstraps and kept moving forward. However, a recent lawsuit might be a setback the Pretty Mess singer wasn’t expecting.
RHOBH’s Erika Jayne is headed to trial after being sued by bankruptcy trustee
News broke that Erika is being accused of spending $24 million in funds that once belonged to Tom’s former clients. Needless to say, this isn’t good news. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star has denied any wrongdoing. But she will still have to go to trial to clear her name. According to The US Sun, the 53-year-old is being sued for millions in a civil lawsuit brought by Tom’s bankruptcy trustee, Elissa Miller. Erika has not been the most empathetic towards the victims as she fought to keep jewelry and made a huge deal out of it.
As Bravo fans are aware, the once-famous lawyer was found guilty in 2024 on four counts of wire fraud. Tom had been accused of embezzling $15 million from clients in a 10-year Ponzi scheme. The trustee first filed a lawsuit against Erika in September 2021. In the documents, she alleged that Erika knew that her estranged husband’s law firm, Girardi Keese, was paying her expenses between 2007 and 2020. Erika has always stood steadfast in her innocence and has yet to be charged with any crime. She’s explained that she was often left in the dark when it came to Tom’s business arrangements.
What is Erika Jayne being sued for?
The news outlet is now reporting that the judge, Anne Hwang, has been assigned to Erika’s case. The trial date will also be set soon in the District Court. A source told the outlet that the trial will most likely begin after June. The insider added, “She’s never going to settle.” The lawsuit also shows that the trustee argued that Erika used Tom’s personal American Express cards “to pay for expenses she incurred in pursuit of her entertainment career. In addition, the Debtor paid all of the Defendants’ billings/invoices incurred by the Defendants for services obtained or products purchased by Ms. Girardi in pursuit of her entertainer/actor/singer/writer career.”
Elissa’s legal team also claims that Tom paid the charges and recorded them in his record books. The lawsuit reads, “The Trustee contends that Ms. Girardi knowingly and willingly participated in Mr. Girardi’s criminal enterprise, and the money used to pay her business expenses was monies from that criminal enterprise.” The trustee is suing Erika and her businesses, EJ Global, LLC, a limited liability company, and Pretty Mess, Inc., a corporation.
RHOBH star Erika Jayne denies all wrongdoing
Erika’s lawyers have responded to the lawsuit. The team claimed that the payments were “booked and accounted for solely as an alleged debt of EJ Global, not an individual liability or debt of the reality star.” Additionally, “No promissory note exists to memorialize the alleged debt owing to Girardi Keese by EJ Global, LLC; and Girardi Keese was fully capable of preparing such a written memorialization of EJ Global, LLC’s alleged debt obligation but never did so.” Erika’s lawyers added, “Not even the federal prosecutors in Mr. Girardi’s recent criminal trial (where neither side called Ms. Girardi as a witness) alleged that Ms. Girardi did anything wrong at the time, including in connection with Girardi Keese’s payments of EJ Global, LLC’s expenses.”
According to Erika, her only mistake was trusting Tom. The legal documents show that there will be a small witness list for both the trustee and Erika. There will also be experts who will be named in the coming week. The plaintiffs will call Nicholas R. Troszak, “managing director of Development Specialists, Inc., who has more than 20 years of experience in bankruptcy, forensic/investigation accounting, and litigation support.” It still looks like Erika has a long way to go until her name is totally cleared.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is available to stream on Peacock.
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