The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne refused to hand over pricey earrings to the trustee in her husband’s bankruptcy case, according to a court filing — despite being urged to turn them over.
The jewelry was said to have been bought by Tom Girardi for Erika for $750,000 back in 2007, using what it’s claimed were stolen client funds. The diamond earrings are reported to be worth around worth $1.4 million today.
Erika was asked to hand them over as part of her embattled ex’s ongoing bankruptcy case, in which the trustee hopes to recoup money to pay back clients who are owed cash.
Tom’s law firm Girardi & Keese is said to owe over $101 million to multiple creditors.
Girardi ‘concealed fact money was from client account’
Documents first obtained by Radar show the XXpen$ive singer’s earrings came to light when the trustee overseeing the bankruptcy case was reviewing financial records and bank statements.
Tom is said to have concealed the fact that he used money from a client trust account to buy the jewelry from M&M Jewelers by “describing the purpose of the check” as a “cost” — with the payee simply described as “M&M”.
Attorney Ronald Richards, who was previously involved in the case, told Page Six, “By mislabeling these as ‘costs,’ the clients got less money. This was an outright theft of client money.”
Motion filed for Erika Jayne to turn over pricey jewelry
According to court documents, a motion was filed against The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star asking her to hand over the expensive jewelry.
Erika, who was also asked last summer to hand over various expensive items, was said to have refused to comply.
The motion asked the court to force the 50-year-old to turn over the earrings within five days, and to stop her selling or transferring them to anyone until then.
The document states, “Erika has no legal or equitable right to the Diamond Earrings and the same are legally and equitably valuable assets of the GK Bankruptcy Estate that the Trustee can and should sell.”
Erika says she’s innocent, agrees to put earrings in escrow
However, Erika has since filed a response saying she is innocent and that she had no idea where the money came from to purchase the earrings.
She has also reportedly agreed out of “good faith” to not sell or transfer the earrings, and to hand over their possession to a third-party escrow until a final ruling is made in the case.
Erika has repeatedly been called out for the lavish lifestyle she lived while still married to Tom Girardi after it emerged that a lot of money he spent on her did not actually belong to the 82-year-old.
The pair have now split, and Erika has moved out of their palatial mansion and has drastically reined in her lifestyle.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is currently on hiatus on Bravo.