Erika Jayne sees THOSE ‘$750K’ earrings appraised at WAY lower price ahead of court-ordered auction

Erika Jayne saw her precious diamond earrings, rumored to have cost $750,000, auctioned for a much lower price.

She and her estranged husband Tom Girardi are currently facing a series of legal troubles over allegations that Girardi, 83, a disbarred lawyer, embezzled millions in settlement funds from his clients and that Jayne, 51, conspired in his misdemeanor to fund her top flight. lifestyle.

Girardi has been accused of spending $750,000 in embezzled money on the earrings, which Erika was ordered to auction off last summer by the court.

Now the jewelry has been appraised prior to the sale, which John Moran Auctioneers is handling in conjunction with ThreeSixty Asset Advisors. Their value is estimated to be between $250,000 and $350,000, TMZ receivables.

The auction house’s vice president said in a press release last month, “In terms of value, since it’s a court sale, the bidding will start around $200,000.”

At the beginning of this year, as allegations swirled around Girardi, Jayne was asked by a trustee to relinquish the earrings.

In court documents obtained by DailyMail.com, Jayne agreed to “provide the earrings to a third party for safekeeping” while the claim was investigated.

Then in June, a judge ordered her to auction the earrings, saying he didn’t believe Jayne “knew the earrings were stolen” when she got them.

However, the judge concluded that “settlement funds from the trust account created for a class action settled by Thomas’ firm Girardi Keese were used to pay for the diamond earrings.”

While appearing at BravoCon last month in support of her show The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills, Jayne shared Us weekly the earrings were not for sale but ‘on appeal’.

However, that’s what the vice president of John Moran Auctioneers told me Page six that his firm will auction the jewels on December 7.

“They are perhaps the most talked about jewelry in the world right now, adding an unknown factor of excitement and interest,” he added.

Controversy and debate swirl around the topic of whether Jayne should give up statement jewelry.

An entire episode of The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills this year is named after the scandal – The Girl With The Diamond Earrings.

Jayne angrily defended her decision to keep the jewelry, insisting, “I’m not guilty, that’s why I’m fighting as hard as I am.”

Her co-stars Crystal Kung Minkoff and Garcelle Beauvais were on the other side of the question, arguing that she should let the earrings go.

Jayne stood his ground, insisting that the case be settled “in court, not in the court of public opinion!”

Minkoff said in a confessional, “Whether or not your husband was convicted of the crimes, why can’t you show empathy?”

“If you don’t understand you’re an amateur and the fuck out,” Jayne said. “Do you believe that just because someone says so?”

In July of this year, a federal bankruptcy judge allowed Girardi’s estate to enlist an auctioneer to sell off a wave of his valuables, with the proceeds going to his creditors, according to Bloomberg Law.

A dizzying array of items from their former marital home went on sale, including a 1997 Steinway 200th anniversary piano that sold for $48,750.

Among the items up for auction was the 17th-century English translation of the first edition of Niccolo Machiavelli’s seminal writings on politics, which fetched $3,250.

Famous for his ruthlessness and cynicism, Machiavelli’s political philosophy helped popularize the axiom that the end justifies the means.

The sale, run by John Moran Auctioneers, took place Sept. 21 at noon and involved several items from Jayne and Girardi’s mansion in Pasadena.

Girardi bought the spread in 1980 and married Jayne two decades later, after which the property became their marital home until it went on the market last year.

The house found a buyer this summer after a series of humiliating price cuts that sent its value plummeting from $13 million to less than $8 million. estate agent reported.

Girardi himself has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and dementia and was placed under guardianship last year.

December’s earring auction takes place five months after Jayne was served a $50 million racketeering lawsuit when she arrived at LAX after a Hawaiian vacation.

The lawsuit alleges that she and Girardi “embezzled settlement money from clients to project an image of wealth and support a lifestyle made for reality TV.”

Court documents portray Jayne as the “front woman” of Girardi’s law firm Girardi Keese, who “sells the world” an image of the outfit as a “successful” venture.

Girardi, who is suspended and now lives in a nursing home, is accused of embezzling millions in settlement funds from the families of the victims of the 2018 Lion Air crash, which killed all 189 people on board.

Jayne has vehemently denied knowing anything about Girardi’s alleged financial improprieties, stating in The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills, “This isn’t who I am and I hope this isn’t who he is.”

She has also dismissed widespread suspicion that her decision to file for divorce in November 2020 was a “sham” to protect her and Girardi’s assets.