The 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' regular, who filed divorce from Tom in November 2020, was previously sued for the return of $25 million and other luxury items.
- Jan 30, 2022
AceShowbiz - Erika Jayne can now breathe a sigh of relief. "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star reportedly has been dismissed from an embezzlement and fraud lawsuit against her estranged husband, Tom Girardi.
"Pursuant to stipulation, plaintiff's claims against defendants EJ Global LLC and Erika Girardi are dismissed without prejudice and without costs," so read court documents filed in the Northern District of Illinois on Saturday, January 29.
Erika was previously named as another defendant in a lawsuit against Tom. The suit itself accused the former attorney of embezzling funds meant for families of the victims of the fatal 2018 Lion Air plane crash.
The divorce has been described as a "sham" to hide assets. The trustee is suing the reality star for the return of $25 million and other luxury items, but she refuses to return the items, calling everything "gifts" from her estranged husband.
Prior to the dismissal, Erika was forced to surrender a set of diamond earrings which were valued at $750,000. However, her lawyer Evan Borges insisted that she's "completely innocent" because she didn't know that her then-husband purchased the lavish gift using money he stole from client funds.
"Erika, a non-attorney who had no role in managing [Tom's firm Girardi & Keese], should not have to be the one arguing for full investigations and discovery into what GK did in the past," Evan said in a court statement. "The trustee seeks to blame Erika for events of 15 years ago at a law firm in which Erika had no part."
"Not even the trustee alleges that Erika knew the source of funds that her wealthy husband used to buy her a gift of earrings 15 years ago (which replaced a prior set of earrings bought years prior to that)," he further explained. Though so, the TV personality had "agreed to hold and not transfer or sell the earrings" pending an investigation.
