Thomas Girardi and his now-defunct law firm are being accused of illegally funneling nearly $870,000 into a “straw company” posing as a staffing business.
In the latest lawsuit filed against Thomas by the trustee presiding over Girardi Keese’s bankruptcy case, the estranged husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne is facing claims of transferring money to himself and others.
According to court documents obtained by Radar Online on December 28, the trustee is demanding the return of $866,558 as they attempt to recover years-worth of payments made to a business under the name of Staffing Partners, which were reportedly made prior to the bankruptcy case against Thomas and his firm being filed.
As the documents explained, the trustee believes the company “may have been a ‘front’ or ‘straw’ company for Thomas and/or other employees or third parties, including Christopher Kamon, the Chief Financial Officer of Girardi Keese, and may have been used to fraudulently and illegally funnel money to Thomas and/or other employees or third parties, including Christopher Kamon.”
As RHOBH fans may recall, Christoper Kamon is the former CFO of Girardi Keese who was arrested in Maryland in November on suspicion of wire fraud and accused of embezzling $10 million.
“During a time when Girardi Keese was in a precarious financial state, and was not paying its creditors, Girardi Keese began a systematic process of draining the available cash, oftentimes consisting of stolen client trust funds, by, among other things, making distributions to certain preferred creditors or third parties from funds of Girardi Keese’s estate,” the lawsuit explained.
And in reference to the “fraudulent transfers” made to Staffing Partners, the trustee added, “these were on account of services that solely benefitted Thomas and Erika Girardi aka Erika Jayne, Christopher Kamon, or other employees of Girardi Keese, or were part of a scheme whereby checks would be made payable to Staffing Partners on account of fraudulent invoices and the funds would then be funneled back to Thomas and Erika Girardi aka Erika Jayne, Christopher Kamon, or other employees of Girardi Keese, such that the Fraudulent Transfers had no relation to the operation of, and did not benefit, Girardi Keese.”
This lawsuit comes just days after the $25 million in transfers sent from Girardi Keese to Erika’s company, EJ Global, were itemized in a list of expenses amid the trustee’s lawsuit against the reality star.