Credit: Jen Lowery / MEGA
Erika Jayne may have scored a major court victory earlier this week. But according to attorney Ronald Richards, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member shouldn’t be too excited quite yet.
As a shocking new lawsuit against Thomas Girardi was filed, accusing the once-famed attorney of owning a whopping $495 million to victims, lenders, and others, Ronald took to his Twitter page, where he suggested Erika’s win may be nothing more than a PR stunt and offered a look at her case list.
“Current Erika Girardi case list. Remember, just because someone pays a PR company to spit out stories doesn’t make the claim accurate. Here are the real cases with real case numbers. Any ruling in any of these cases is not binding on any other case as an FYI,” he tweeted on September 1, along with a sheet outlining the many cases against Erika, one of which is a $25 million lawsuit and another that totals $1.5 million.
Attorney Ronald Richards lists Erika Jayne’s 9 pending lawsuits
In other news, Erika’s estranged husband, who is currently residing in an assisted living center, is facing a new lawsuit from Elissa Miller, the trustee presiding over his defunct law firm‘s bankruptcy proceedings.
In court documents obtained by Radar Online on September 1, it was noted that the trustee is fighting back against two litigation lenders who previously worked with Thomas and his firm and claim to be owed $15 million dollars. They added that the $2 million Thomas stiffed from widows and orphans of plane crash victims was only the “tip of the iceberg” when it came to his shady business dealings.
“The Trustee’s investigation of the Firm’s financial records revealed that over the last 10 years, Thomas and his cohorts stole at least $14,000,000 in settlement funds that should have gone to the Firm’s clients,” Elissa’s filing read.
According to the trustee, Thomas used Girardi Keese’s trust account as “his personal piggy bank,” putting more than $41 million in the account to cover checks he wrote from the account to sustain his and Erika’s over-the-top lifestyle.
“The deposits were insufficient to cover his use of the funds,” the trustee explained.
All in all, 682 claims have been filed against Thomas’ estate by his victims, lenders, and other creditors for a grand total of $495,912,891.48.
As the trustee stated in the lawsuit, Thomas spent millions of dollars “on cars, furs, clothes, trips, and jewelry and other items for himself, [Erika Jayne] and other friends and Girardi Keese employees and partners” as his clients remained unpaid.
“His indulgences included five country club- golf memberships, memberships in city clubs, automobiles (Ferrari and Lamborghini sports cars), boats, two planes, houses in Malibu and in the Palm Springs area, luxury yachting trips in the Mediterranean, and a penchant for giving expensive gifts of jewelry and the like,” the suit added.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 12 airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.