The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne appeared to blame her estranged husband Tom Girardi’s legal problems on his declining health.
On a recent episode of RHOBH, Erika implied that Tom’s seeming inability to provide clients their settlements had more to do with his recent dementia diagnosis rather than an intent to steal their money.
“I think what has happened to Tom here is that he’s not mentally capable, and he’s in sole control of his firm,” Erika stated.
Tom’s dementia diagnosis came after he was hit with lawsuits and accusations that he knowingly stole millions of dollars from his clients’ settlements and had been committing fraud.
Shortly after, he was put under a conservatorship controlled by his younger brother, Robert.
Sutton Stracke calls out Erika’s ‘financial naivity’
Some of her co-stars, however, aren’t quite convinced.
Sutton Stracke seemed skeptical about the scenario. Not only did she not want her name attached to the case, having already contacted a lawyer, but she also posed some hard-hitting questions to Erika on the show.
During their Christmas Eve dinner, Sutton brought up Erika’s name being attached to the LLCs accused of holding on to clients’ missing money.
Sutton stated that she has access to her finances as the owner of multiple LLCs and wondered how Erika could be naive to the fact that clients’ money was allegedly being transferred into them.
“I was kept away from the books,” Erika simply replied. Sutton seemed shocked and stated she wouldn’t be ok with that.
Erika agreed and said she hadn’t been pleased about it at the time.
Based on previews for RHOBH, this will not be the last time that Sutton questions Erika on the matter.
Erika’s involvement in Tom’s legal trouble
For RHOBH fans, the big mystery behind Tom Girardi’s legal problems was how much Erika did or didn’t know.
Erika is currently under legal investigation regarding her alleged involvement. Lawyers are reportedly watching every move and even recently requested that Bravo send over any unaired RHOBH footage that could help their case.
Currently on RHOBH, Erika maintains that she had no idea about her husband’s alleged fraud.
She discussed that she had filed for divorce from him for emotional reasons — despite accusations that she did it to protect their assets.
Erika claimed that Tom refused to work on their issues and that after treating her more like a coworker than a wife, she decided to leave him.
Later on, she claimed he had been cheating on her but said she had been keeping quiet due to the power he had over her.
RHOBH viewers are split on whether Erika is innocent or not. For now, viewers will have to keep tuning in to hear more of Erika’s side of the story.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs on Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.
Death threats to Ericka? That crosses the line. Why would she have that much knowledge about Tom’s law firm affairs when she was busy with all her own. I would think other friends and associates would know more than she. I hope she comes out all right in this. I wonder if she has some better friends than her TV ones. Not that they’re bad, but do they hang out when the show’s not airing?
I remember at a dinner party some time ago he snapped at Ericka for making a comment while he was talking and he sounded hateful towards her. I believe he is very controlling bastard…..so I think Ericka had to put up with a lot of being disrespected, no money is really worth that kind of life!!!!!