Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne has been through the ringer in recent months. Her marriage to Tom Girardi fell apart after he was disbarred and charged over embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars from a slew of clients over the years. She filed for divorce and later shared her feelings, but in the time subsequent she’s had to face charges she might have been complicit. In addition, has had to return jewelry she’d been given by her ex and more. She’s not the only one either, as a “friend” of Tom Girardi’s is also relinquishing expensive items he gifted her.
Last month, this so-called "friend" had remitted a slew of items directly connected to Tom Girardi’s ongoing legal issues. She returned a bunch of jewelry including a diamond necklace from Tiffany with a heart-shape, a Cartier pave diamond and gold necklace, a Bulgari necklace with pearls and diamonds, and some expensive stud earrings.
The brands alone would seemingly indicate the items were pricey, but just in case there's any question at auction they are allegedly expected to bring in $15,000. The stickiest part of the whole thing, however, is that the jewelry was bought by Girardi for Tricia A. Bigelow, a woman with whom he allegedly had an affair, and a previous report over at the LA Times indicates the former lawyer may have used $300,000 in stolen funds to buy a beach condo as well. (The woman, a retired California appellate justice, reportedly returned the items of her own accord.)
Erika Jayne was alleged to have responded to finding out the news with a “fuck me” also saying “no way” when she was confronted with the $300,000 purchase.
Now, this week the alleged “friend” of Tom Girardi was “rushed back” to court, per Radar Online. The outlet notes the woman in question allegedly “found some additional pieces of jewelry in the back of her closet.” The three additional items were all from Cartier and include a watch, a bracelet and a necklace. They could garner an additional $9,500 that would go to the victims of the embezzlement scheme.
The news comes after Erika Jayne herself was asked to return a pair of earrings Girardi had given her. The purchase of the earrings was traced and it was confirmed her ex had used money from his Ponzi scheme-like antics in order to buy the earrings for her. Jayne’s earrings were appraised at $1.4 million at the time, and her lack of wanting to hand them over led her to more legal trouble.
Jon Hamm, a noted Housewives fan, even recently shared his own viral thoughts on the earrings matter, telling Howard Stern:
You just want to shake her and go, ‘Honey, they were never yours. Give them back.
Eventually, she was deemed “civilly liable” due to not handing over the earrings. Her conduct was also said to be a “crime” by the trustee involved with the case and a judge ultimately ordered her to yield the pricey items.
There have been numerous other Girardi-bought items auctioned off for hundreds of thousands of dollars. This includes items like furniture and a Steinway piano, and even a poster signed by Julia Roberts from the movie Erin Brokovich.
Jayne is also dealing with lawsuits, including a recent one in which she was served at an airport with a stack of papers alleging the RHOBH star was aware of her then-husband’s alleged actions. She has been accused of “racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, unlawful business practice and deceit.” She is also involved in other suits related to Tom Girardi and the money he owes clients, including one suit brought by Nic Cage's ex.
It's a situation where real-life legal issues have sometimes played out on our TV screens. In fact, a lot of the events and Erika Jayne's feelings related to them played out during episodes of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and can be viewed with a Peacock subscription. You know, just in case you want to be a noted Housewives fan like Jon Hamm.
