Erika Girardi is facing new legal pressures after being added to one of Tom Girardi's fraud cases. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star had her named added to a lawsuit against Tom for alleged breach of contract. As Erika attempts to clear her name from her estranged ex-husband, it looks like the hungry debtors are making sure she doesn't get loose.
The Girardi's have been under fire after having their legal woes outlined in a scathing Hulu documentary dubbed The Housewife and The Hustler. Tom is accused of stealing millions of dollars from his clients and frauding a number of banks and former business partners. With Erika being married to the disgraced law titan for 21 years, many of Tom's victims think she helped her husband spend and hide the money. The Bravo star has maintained her innocence and even claims to be among Tom's victims. But as Tom's legal woes heat up, Erika is getting tossed into the fire.
New reports claim Erika has been added to a $5 million lawsuit Tom was already facing. In court documents shared by Radar Online, Erika's name was added to a lawsuit from the Law Office of Philip R. Sheldon and the law firm of Robert P. Finn. The suit accuses the Girardi's of fraud and breach of contract after they say they referred thousands of cases to Tom “pursuant to an agreement to share in the attorneys’ fees paid when the cases settled.” However, like many of the clients and partners who worked with Tom, they never received any money. The two lawyers suing Tom “are both seniors who devoted the twilight years of their careers to working on these cases with the promise and expectation that they would have the resources necessary to retire once Girardi paid them for the services they performed.”
Their suit accuses Tom of hiding money owed to them and refusing to pay their portion of the deals. "Girardi embezzled and redirected the funds to family members, friends, partners, lenders, and creditors, and used the money to fund outrageously lavish lifestyles for himself and his wife Erika Jayne, who is better known as one of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," the suit states. It also accuses Erika of only filing for divorce from Tom in an attempt to help her husband hide the stolen funds. “To avoid paying Plaintiffs the amounts owed, Girardi and his firm 'loaned' millions of dollars to Girardi’s wife, and then filed a sham “divorce” to fraudulently keep the money from Plaintiffs and other vulnerable victims.”
Another lawsuit recently found that Tom's firm loaned over $20 million to Erika's businesses under the name "Erika Jayne." Many think the loan is proof that Erika was always involved in helping Tom embezzle money from his debtors, hence her name being included in a number of his lawsuits. In addition to Erika, Tom's son-in-law David Lira is also named in the suit. Lira is also named in Tom's embezzlement case where he's accused of stealing money that was supposed to go to the family members of plane crash victims. Erika is also listed in Tom's bankruptcy investigation over claims she is holding assets that belong to his estate. But the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star claims they were "gifts" from her husband that she should be able to keep.
Source: Radar Online
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