Erika Jayne is being forced to turn in a pair of earrings her estranged husband, Thomas Girardi, bought for her for $750,000 over a decade ago.
In court documents shared earlier this week, it has been confirmed that the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member had five days to hand over the items to the trustee presiding over Thomas’ bankruptcy case, who will have them appraised and transfer them to a safe deposit box at a bank.
Radar Online reports that the judge presiding over the federal case issued his ruling on February 2.
“The stipulation confirms what Erika all along has said she would do: namely, allow the earrings to be held in trust with a full reservation of rights between Erika and the Girardi Keese (‘GK’) bankruptcy trustee, pending a final court decision and order,” Erika’s attorney, Evan C. Borges, said in a statement to Us Weekly on February 2. “Erika has cooperated fully at all times, including a year ago when she disclosed and showed the earrings to a jeweler representative of the trustee in the Tom Girardi (‘TG’) bankruptcy.”
According to the report, Thomas, 82, is believed to have purchased the earrings for Erika, 50, in March 2007 with money taken from his client trust account, claiming in financial documents that it was a case expense.
Thomas then said that the earrings were stolen before they were allegedly found in a safe.
As his statement continued, Erika’s attorney insisted that Erika had no knowledge about how Thomas had paid for the earrings.
“Erika had nothing to do with and no knowledge of these actions of TG and GK, but she is being blamed for them. All Erika did was receive a gift of earrings from her then-wealthy husband 15 years ago. By law, the GK Trustee stands in the shoes of GK, and it’s undisputed that GK knew about the earrings purchase in 2007. Now, 15 years later, the statute of limitations bars any alleged claim against Erika, who never did anything wrong,” he continued.
In his own statement to Us Weekly, attorney Ronald Richards, who was previously working alongside the trustee, encouraged Erika to hand over the earrings quickly.
“The evidence filed in court by the trustee shows a clear money trail to the purchase of these earrings,” he explained last week. “Erika should return them immediately. They were purchased with estate funds. She will not be able to hide behind her attorney in her response. She will have to provide testimony under oath and be subject to a deposition if she persists.”
Prior to the recent court ruling, Erika’s attorney confirmed in documents that she planned to give her jewelry to a third party until the trustee completed their investigation.
As RHOBH fans may have heard, Garcelle Beauvais weighed in on the earring drama during an episode of The Real earlier this week, saying that if she were Erika, she “would give up the diamonds quickly,”
“I mean, when she shows up for work, she is diamond-ed out. So she’s got a lot. So getting rid of those diamond earrings is not going to hurt her,” she added.
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