Erika Jayne Facing $5.4 Million Judgement Over Refusal To Hand Over Diamond Earrings!

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, Erika Jayne, is under more legal trouble after failing to comply. 

Since Tom Girardi’s law firm filed for bankruptcy in 2020 after failing to pay creditors, Erika Jayne has been in legal trouble. The federal judge who was presiding over Tom’s case appointed a trustee to oversee his finances in an effort to pay the victims and creditors. The appointed trustee asked Erika to hand over the diamond earrings since he claimed they were purchased using the victim’s money. 

Tom Girardi bought his wife the diamond earrings for $750k in 2007. Since then, the pair of earrings have increased in value and are now worth $1.4 million.  According to the trustee, the money Girardi used to purchase the earrings was settlement proceeds for a group of people who suffered serious health effects from their use of the drug Rezulin. 

The court-appointed trustee admitted to wanting the earrings so that they could sell them off and use the money to pay creditors. But according to Erika, Tom bought the earrings for her as gifts. She said, “During our marriage, I believed [Tom Girardi] and [his firm] were financially successful, extremely wealthy, and made large amounts of money.” Erika’s lawyer also claimed the statute of limitations had run out for the trustee’s claims to be taken seriously. 

The trustee fired back at Erika and her lawyer, demanding that she should not “keep the fruits of her husband’s poisonous tree because of the time that has passed since the crime occurred.” He also cited Penal Code §496(a) which states anyone who withholds stolen property knowing it was stolen shall be punished by imprisonment. 

“Her refusal to now turn over the Diamond Earrings is conversion, for which she can be held accountable in damages,” the trustee wrote. “She can also be civilly liable for the value of the Diamond Earrings, plus statutory interest and punitive damages, which with prejudgment interest could easily be $5.4 million.” The trustee also said they could also seek punitive damages of $3.6 million from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star. 

Erika’s lawyer defended the Bravo star and said she was being blamed for being Tom’s wife. He asked, “Why aren’t the trustees going after Tom Girardi or the estate of Mr. O’Callahan, the other GK partner who signed the check in 2007? Putting the blame on Erika, an entertainer without a law degree who never worked at the law firm is a diversion tactic. Why not focus on all the attorneys, accountants, and funders who were closer to TG and GK’s inside operations?”

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