Credit: MEGA
Erika Jayne suffered a major loss in court on Tuesday.
As the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member continues to maintain her innocence amid a number of fraud and embezzlement lawsuits against both herself and her estranged husband, Thomas Girardi, attorney Ronald Richards confirmed that the $750,000 earrings she claimed to have received innocently, as a gift, are no longer in her possession.
“THE EARRINGS ARE GONE,” Ronald declared on Twitter on June 28. “The Trustee already has [Erika Jayne]’s former earrings, the judge is forfeiting all rights of Erika Girardi to the earrings!! What a hearing. The judge agrees with the Trustee. Motion is granted.”
Throughout the day on Tuesday, Ronald shared a number of tweets regarding Erika’s case, noting that her attorney, Evan Borges, had appeared on her behalf, and revealing he was fined $400 for a paperwork error pertaining to a jury trial.
He then shared that Evan had told the court that he no longer had access to the safe deposit box where the earrings, now believed to be worth an estimated $1.4 million, although the official appraisal is pending, are being held, and he complained about the accusations Erika had faced as a result of Thomas’ misconduct.
As the hearing continued, Erika’s attorney addressed a check written from Thomas’ client trust account and pointed to a $64.845 million settlement payment.
“He is going to argue that a portion of that money should be awarded to Girardi individually so basically it was okay to steal some of this money because Girardi was entitled to fees. (problem is a check didn’t go to the attorney, so it is presumed to be client fees). Her attorney is trying to create a hypothetical contingency payment to [Thomas Girardi]. He argues on [the] day the $750,000 purchase was made. He argues that [Girardi Keese] paid itself $2M in costs so this money could be Tom’s, not the clients. Clever but it is speculation and we know he stole client funds,” Ronald explained.
Although the judge ruled that Erika’s earrings should be confiscated, Ronald revealed that the judge “doesn’t believe [Erika Jayne] knew what was going on.”
“He says this is case is a tragedy. He says Mr. Girardi took a brilliant reputation and career but there was something wrong. He said the people who have really suffered are the people he represented. He said Erika will have to suffer as well,” Ronald shared. “He said the diamonds should come back into the Estate. He is finally addressing the standing issue, he said the Trustee does have standing to bring a lawsuit.”
According to Ronald, it simply doesn’t matter whether or not Erika knew about the crimes Thomas was committing against his former clients. After all, the earrings were “stolen.”
“The judge is making it clear, he doesn’t have any facts she knew, BUT IT DOESN’T MATTER,” Ronald tweeted. “She still had possession of stolen property.”
“He said it was clear this was a fraud and embezzlement,” he continued. “The judge said the trustee is not effected by Girardi’s bad acts. (I predict Erika will lose this motion.) Clearly the Trustee will not be stuck with knowledge.”
In another couple of tweets, Ronald shared that the trustee presiding over Thomas’ bankruptcy case will take ownership of the earrings and sell them in open court to repay victims of Thomas’ fraudulent behavior.
“The value will be determined by experts. Where the money will go is to the Estate,” Ronald revealed.
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