Just when Erika Jayne thought she was free from legal trouble, she’s getting pulled right back in!
In new legal documents filed by Edelson PC on Tuesday, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, her company EJ Global LLC, Girardi Keese, the law firm founded by her estranged husband Tom Girardi, and its lenders were sued for no less than $55 million in damages for their alleged crimes — which include racketeering, receipt of stolen property, unlawful business practices, deceit, and way more! Whoa!
And this time, the plaintiffs claim to have proof that Erika played a major role in the scam!
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The 67-page filing obtained by E! News began by calling Tom’s former law firm “the largest criminal racketeering enterprise in the history of plaintiffs’ law.” Yeesh! The doc continued:
“All told, it stole more than $100 million dollars from the firm’s clients, co-counsel, vendors, and many others unfortunate enough to do business with the firm.”
Edelson PC even claimed that in order to pull off this elaborate “scheme,” Girardi Keese “was siphoning off millions to fund Tom’s and Erika’s all-consuming need to spend,” explaining:
“The couple certainly played up the part of flaunting their wealth and the fact that Tom was a powerful attorney who wooed celebrities, judges, and politicians alike. But that money was not earned by the firm or by Tom, but was stolen: from co-counsel, from vendors with long overdue bills, and—by far the most unforgiveable [sic] for an attorney—from the firm’s own injured clients.”
Erika, who was dismissed from the embezzlement and fraud lawsuit against her husband after claiming to be innocent earlier this year, is now being accused of being the “frontwoman” for Tom’s entire scheme, too! The filing argued:
“[Erika] acted as the ‘frontwoman’ of the operation, selling to the world (including unsuspecting clients) that Girardi Keese was successful.”
Edelson PC even praised her skillful ability to persuade the public’s opinion about the situation, saying:
“And she was exceptionally good in the role. With tens of millions of dollars backing her, Erika shamelessly displayed a nationwide showroom of the money they stole on Real Housewives, famously spending $40,000 per month on her ‘look,’ and releasing a song called ‘XXPEN$IVE’—featuring the refrain ‘It’s expensive to be me.'”
In the video called into question (below), she’s seen tossing around piles of money while performing in various glitzy sets.
Now, as Kanye West would say, this whole video could just be seen as art. She wouldn’t be the first one to try to flex in a music video like this. But the lawyers coming after her seem to disagree. And they have more complaints. They are also accusing the 50-year-old of manipulating the narrative surrounding the original fraud lawsuit, adding:
“Erika uses her significant public platform to lie about her own involvement and to try to assist Tom and the others in getting away with it.”
Her appearances in season 11 of RHOBH are now being dragged into court, with the firm using them to argue that the Bravolebrity did not show “any remorse or compassion for the victims” and, instead, used the legal trouble to her benefit.
“Though it would have been understandable for Erika to withdraw from the show or at least choose not to talk about her legal problems on national television, she instead made the cynical decision to leverage the scandal to further her career and stay relevant in the tabloids, meaning more exposure and a larger paycheck for her next season of performing on Housewives.”
Dang!
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The lawsuit also cited comments Erika made on the reality series and Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, including a story she shared about Tom’s 2017 car accident in Pasadena, to support their claims.
The filing also pointed to her various social media posts making light of the fraud accusations. Rather than express any sorrow for those involved (or just politely refrain from talking about the situation publicly), the singer chose to frequently joke about the legal matter, Edelson PC noted:
“On the same day that her involvement in the scheme was exposed in court filings, Erika tweeted a picture of herself on to her nearly 500,000 Twitter followers captioned ‘High Drama.’ When a federal judge found that Tom had ‘misappropriated’ at least $2 million from his Lion Air Clients, she posted a scantily clad picture of herself on Instagram for her 2.5 million followers captioned, ‘Got buffoons eatin’ my pu$$y while I watch cartoons.'”
Not the best look… but is it enough to prove she was the “frontwoman” of these crimes?? The courts will have to decide that…
We should note in a civil case like this one she doesn’t need to be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt but rather with a preponderance of evidence. Remember how O.J. Simpson had to pay even after being found not guilty?
This new suit comes just two months after Erika was accused of “aiding and abetting” Tom’s financial wrongdoings in another lawsuit. It’ll be interesting to see if she decides to continue to speak so openly about these troubles in season 12 of Real Housewives, which is currently filming, now that all her commentary is coming back to haunt her in court! Thoughts??
[Image via Erika Jayne/Bravo/YouTube]
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