Erika Jayne has openly addressed her legal woes on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills — but even more drama continued to play out off screen.
The TV personality’s legal troubles first made headlines in November 2020 after she filed for divorce from Tom Girardi. Erika, who joined the Bravo series alongside her then-husband in 2015, was later named in a fraud lawsuit that accused her and Tom of embezzling $2 million in settlement funds from plane crash victims.
The Georgia native continued to film RHOBH throughout the court battle, using the show as a way to assert her innocence. “Please understand, there are some things I cannot answer. But I will do my best to give every part of the story that I can,” she explained during the season 11 reunion in November 2021. “This is the toughest part of my life. And I asked for patience with the ladies — and got some and some I didn’t. I asked for an understanding that these things are complicated, that I was finding them out in real time myself, and I don’t have all the answers and still do not have all the answers to this day.”
Tom, for his part, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and later placed under a conservatorship amid his legal woes. The former attorney’s brother Robert Girardi was named the effective conservator of his person and estate in July 2021.
In May 2022, Erika opened up about having her personal issues be dissected front and center on RHOBH. “I am the face of this instead of the lawyers that worked at the firm and referring attorneys and, you know, law funding people — instead they point to me,” she exclusively told Us Weekly about dealing with the courtroom proceedings. “For my mental health, it’s been hard. No doubt. But again, I couldn’t lose and I was just going to fight it out every way possible and still am.”
The “Pretty Mess” performer noted that she struggled with handling the challenges on her own. “The season before was a real fallout. This season is about really trying to pull yourself together and go on. It was tough but ultimately, I’ll get there and it’s part of the human experience,” she added, telling Us that she “mixed alcohol and antidepressants” while cameras were rolling. “You can’t go through what I have gone through the previous season and not feel something. I wanted to have some fun and I wanted to not feel so heavy. So that’s what I did.”
Scroll through for a breakdown of all the lawsuits Erika has been mentioned in:
Amid her divorce, news broke that Erika and Tom were being sued by class action firm Edelson PC. In court docs obtained by Us, the former couple were accused of embezzling settlement funds intended to help the families of Lion Air Flight 610 victims. The plane crash killed 189 people in 2018. The firm claimed that the estranged couple's divorce was “a sham attempt to fraudulently protect" their assets and that Tom and Erika were "on the verge of financial collapse and locked in a downward spiral of mounting debts and dwindling funds.” In January 2022, the reality star was dismissed from the fraud lawsuit against her estranged husband. Gregory Pace/Shutterstock
Erika was sued for $25 million in August 2021 by the trustee overseeing the bankruptcy case for Girardi Keese. According to the legal docs, the trustee accused Erika of knowing that the firm paid her expenses for at least 12 years. The lawsuit also argued that Erika should be personally held responsible for the funds even though the money allegedly went to her company, EJ Global LLC. “She attempts to create a distinction between handling her money directly versus paying all of her bills directly,” the documents stated. “The distinction, like her prior motion for reconsideration, is meritless. Any payments made for her benefit are her responsibility.” MediaPunch/Shutterstock
The $2.1 million lawsuit claimed that Erika was involved in business dealings done by Girardi & Keese and that she was aware of her lavish lifestyle being funded illegally. The lawsuit, which was filed by attorney Manuel H. Miller and Kathleen Bajgrowicz, sued Erika for allegedly aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty and for financial elder abuse. Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
Edelson PC filed another case against Erika and Tom for several alleged offenses, including racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, receipt of stolen property, aiding and abetting concealment of stolen property, money had and received, conversion, unlawful business practice, consumers legal remedies act and deceit. At the time, the firm was seeking no less than $55 million in damages. AFF-USA/Shutterstock
Edelson PC alleged in additional court docs that the Broadway veteran had “specific knowledge” of Tom’s alleged wrongdoings. Erika was accused of racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, deceit, aiding and abetting concealment of stolen property and more. Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
The Bravo personality was sued for alleged fraud and theft by Christina Fulton in July 2022. At the time, Fulton alleged in her filing that Erika used $924,300 from her settlement fund to support her lifestyle. The ex-girlfriend of Nicolas Cage, who was seeking $750,000 in damages, alleged the money was diverted to the Pretty Mess author through her EJ Global organization. Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
The “Painkillr” singer was served with a $50 million lawsuit while arriving at the Los Angeles airport following her vacation to Hawaii. While she was in the baggage claim area with her RHOBH costars Lisa Rinna and Diana Jenkins, Erika was approached by a woman who handed her a stack of papers and said, “I just wanted to give you these documents. This is a summons and complaint to serve you," per video obtained by Page Six. The suit in question was filed by Edelson PC and included nine charges: racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering and unlawful business practice and deceit, according to documents obtained by Us. The legal docs also alleged that the Georgia native’s EJ Global company “was created for the purpose of funneling money from Girardi Keese to benefit Erika.” The California resident and her legal team were granted a 21-day extension in early August 2022 after she was served, granting her time to “answer, move or otherwise respond to the Complaint.” Charles Sykes/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
Erika scored a major victory in court at the end of August in the $5 million fraud lawsuit filed by two of her estranged husband's attorneys Philip R. Sheldon and Robert P. Finn. Los Angeles judge Richard Fruin found that there was "no evidence" that the RHOBH star participated in "any wrongdoing," according to legal documents obtained by Us. Sheldon and Finn had sued Erika in December 2020 for "aiding and abetting" Tom in his alleged crime, claiming that she knew her ex had been using his cut of settlement money from his clients to fund her lifestyle. In the ruling by Judge Fruin the court found that the "Get it Tonight" singer didn't have any "actual knowledge" of Tom's crimes. Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock
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