Another day, another lawsuit. Such is the life of Erika Jayne. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star has been entrenched in legal issues for over 2 years now. Her estranged husband, Tom Girardi, was accused of embezzling his clients’ settlement funds. As a result, Erika has been implicating in multiple lawsuits.
Page Six is now reporting on the latest accusation against her. According to court documents, Erika stands accused of hindering a $5 million fraud lawsuit filed against her. The suit alleges that Erika is trying to “gain an unfair advantage in the litigation.” It is alleged that Erika knew that her company, EJ Global, was suspended by the California Franchise Tax Board since February. The suit noted, “Yet, 110 days later, EJ Global has done nothing to get the LLC out of suspended status.” Ronald Richards is representing the plaintiffs, law firms Philip R. Sheldon and Robert P. Finn. “Plaintiffs cannot wait any longer as now Erika Girardi is using the suspension to gain an unfair advantage in the litigation,” court documents read.
Another argument made against Erika is that EJ Global’s suspension is preventing the plaintiff from a proper discover process. Ronald is requesting the court set a 10-day deadline for Erika to get her company out of suspension. Which means that Erika would hav to file EJ Global’s tax returns.
Erika’s attorney, Evan Borges, released a statement regarding the suit. He said, “The EJ Global LLC suspension is part of the mess that Tom Girardi [TG], Girardi &Keese [GK], and their outside accountants dumped on Erika and left her to sort out – with no access to records.” He continued their accountants have “always managed the finances of EJ Global LLC, not Erika.”
Evan also pointed out that Erika is the “interest holder” of EJ Global LLC. And that she is trying to “figure out how to file tax returns without any financial records.” Evan argues this is “virtually impossible.” He added, “We have not given up trying, but without any of the records, it is an extremely difficult task. The Sheldon plaintiffs and their Twitter attorneys have no case.” Evan asserted, “Their entire case is based on unethical fee splitting agreements with GK, which are unenforceable.”
Erika and her team then filed their own motion, which requests to keep Erika’s financial records confidential. Court documents read that “information in the Confidential Documents has no bearing on or relevance whatsoever to any of the claims or defenses in this action.” Ronald circled back to respond to the motion and deemed it “meritless.”
Evan said of their request for confidentiality, “Regarding our pending motion to enforce the protective order, it speaks for itself. The Sheldon plaintiffs and their Twitter attorneys want to publicize how Erika obtained funds from another private citizen to help her pay her bills. The fact that Erika has needed assistance from others to pay her bills shows that there is no hidden treasure she ever took for herself that really belongs to the bankruptcy estates of Girardi or Girardi & Keese.” He then said that he believes plaintiffs want to expose the confidential docs as a “threat of pay me money ‘or else’ I go public.”
The law offices of Philip R. Sheldon and Robert P. Finn are suing Erika and Tom and her estranged husband for breach of contract and fraud. They believe that missing funds were sent to EJ Global to pay for her lifestyle. Erika allegedly received $25 million from Tom over a 12 year period. The suit argues that $5 million of that belongs to them.
Erika’s attorney continued to disparage the suit against her. He stated, “The Sheldon plaintiffs have sued Erika on the preposterous and false theory that Erika, as a non-lawyer with a separate career an entertainer, somehow ran the finances of the law firm and somehow participated in the decisions made by TG and GK not to pay an illegal fee-split to the Sheldon plaintiffs.” Evan added, “They are not entitled to a penny. Erika had nothing to do with any of it.”
Erika has also been named in a $1 million suit, accusing her of “aiding and abetting” her husband. And in April, she was named in a $50 million suit for racketeering. Erika has vehemently denied all the allegations against her.
TELL US – WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE LATEST SUIT AGAINST ERIKA? HAVE THE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST HER BEEN DISPROVEN LIKE SHE IS CLAIMING ON RHOBH? WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN TO HER?
[Photo Credit: Gabriel Olsen/Getty Images for JustFab]
