Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne’s husband charged with fraud
>
Separate attorney Tom Girardi, husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne, is accused of stealing $18 million from clients, including victims of the Lion Air crash.
- Girardi, 83, with Alzheimer’s, has been indicted on multiple counts of fraud
- They accuse him of stealing from clients in Chicago and Los Angeles
- Erika Jayne, star of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, filed for divorce in 2020
Tom Girardi, the disgraced lawyer husband of Real Housewives star Erika Jayne, has been accused of allegedly stealing $18 million from clients, including the grieving families of the victims of the 2018 Lion Air crash.
Girardi already faces a mountain of civil litigation over allegations that he stole money from his law firm.
Today, he was indicted by grand juries in Chicago and Los Angeles on allegations of theft of $3 million from the plane crash victims and an additional $15 million from other clients.
Prosecutors say he stole the money to pay exorbitant American Express bills and membership fees for two country clubs.
He and Erika Jayne are separated but have not yet finalized their divorce. She filed for divorce in 2020.
Girardi, 83, with Alzheimer’s, has been indicted on multiple counts of fraud
Tom Girardi, the disgraced lawyer husband of Real Housewives star Erika Jayne, has been charged with fraud
Girardi, now 83, is in an assisted living facility. His wife has publicly stated that he is suffering from dementia and that he was formally diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2021.
It is unclear if he will be deemed fit enough to stand trial.
He was indicted Wednesday by juries in Los Angeles and Chicago. His son-in-law from a previous marriage, David Lira, was also charged in Chicago.
Among the allegations are that he stole $3 million from the settlements of the families of the victims of an Indonesian plane crash and stole another $18 million from his firm to cover his extravagant lifestyle.
The criminal indictment is the latest chapter in a sad saga that brings to an end Girardi’s once-admired career.
He is facing multiple lawsuits for alleged fraud and theft, which first came to light in 2020, around the same time Erika filed for divorce.
Much of the drama has been played out in episodes of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Christopher Kazuo Kamon, the 49-year-old former CEO of the legal group, was indicted along with Girardi in Los Angeles.
189 people died in the crash of Lion Air flight JT-610. Girardi and his firm represented five family members of the victims, but stole $3 million of their settlement money.
Girardi is best known for assisting in the 1993 real-life case of Erin Brokovich vs. Pacific Gas & Electricity Co.
His lawsuit obtained a $460 million settlement for Hinkley residents, a record at the time.
Before the indictment was filed against him, an independent law firm reimbursed the families Girardi accuses of defrauding.
That law firm said they would then seek to recover the money from Girardi and his firm.
Erika Jayne has been named a defendant in some of the lawsuits against her estranged husband, but has not been charged with any crimes.
She has been removed from some of those lawsuits and insists she did nothing wrong.
Some of Girardi’s victims came after her claiming that, together, she and her estranged husband used stolen funds to prop up their expensive tastes.
The couple’s palatial mansion sold for $7.5 million in October of last year after falling into foreclosure.