Lara Sophia 
New day, new lawsuits!
Erika Jayne just can’t seem to escape the drama – onscreen or off! The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star was recently accused of being the “frontwoman” of her estranged husband Tom Girardi’s alleged fraud scheme in a new $50 million lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed by Edelson PC on April 5 accuses Erika of using her reality TV fame to “prolong” Tom’s alleged fraud scheme. Charges against Erika include racketeering, receipt of stolen property, unlawful business practice, deceit and more.
“The victims of Tom’s fraud have had to sit back and watch Erika spend obscene amounts of money as they had nothing,” Jay Edelson from Edelson PC told Page Six in a statement on Tuesday. “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.”
Court documents claim that Erika hid the truth about her estranged husband’s alleged crimes during the duration of their marriage.
“Tom and Erika routinely misappropriated client settlement money to project an image of wealth and to prop up a lifestyle made for reality TV,” the court documents claim.
“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,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit also accuses Erika of “flaunting” her wealth on RHOBH while also “acting as the ‘frontwoman’ of the operation, selling to the world (including unsuspecting clients) that Girardi Keese was successful.”
”Indeed, the Girardi Keese firm operated what we now know was the largest criminal racketeering enterprise in the history of plaintiffs’ law. 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,” the court documents indict.“To this day, 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.”
Since day one Erika has maintained her innocence and insists she knew nothing about Tom’s alleged crimes.
“I feel terrible. This is not who I am,” Erika exclaimed during the RHOBH Season 11 reunion. “And I hope this is not who he is. … I hope that [Tom] has not done what is alleged here.”
If your head is spinning trying to understand this all The Bravo Docket does a great job breaking it all down! Check out their latest IG post below. Also check out their podcast – it’s pretty damn fabulous and dives deep into all the Real Housewives legal drama!
Season 12 of RHOBH is expected to premiere on May 11.
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