Erika Jayne’s request for damages after her diamond earrings were sold off as part of her husband’s bankruptcy has been objected to by the trustee presiding over the case. Tom Girardi, Jayne’s estranged husband, is facing five counts of wire fraud and is accused of embezzling $15 million from former clients. Many creditors have gone after Jayne, accusing her of living off embezzled money, and the trustee has sued her for the return of $25 million.
Erika Jayne’s demand for damages for the sale of her diamond earrings as part of her husband’s bankruptcy has been objected to by the trustee presiding over the bankruptcy.
Erika Jayne’s request for damages due to the sale of her diamond earrings as part of her husband Tom Girardi’s bankruptcy case has been met with objection by the trustee overseeing the Chapter 7 case. Girardi, a former high-powered Los Angeles lawyer, was pushed into bankruptcy by his creditors in 2020, with accusations of him running his firm Girardi Keese like a Ponzi scheme. He has been accused of embezzling $15 million from 2010 to 2020, with five counts of wire fraud against him. Many of his former clients claim he obtained a financial settlement for them in a legal dispute but failed to pay them in full.
Jayne has been dragged into several legal battles involving her estranged husband, with many creditors going after her for living the high life on embezzled money. The trustee presiding over the bankruptcy for Girardi’s law firm sued Jayne for the return of $25 million, as court documents showed that the firm paid the bills for Jayne’s company EJ Global for years. Jayne asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming she believed that her husband had the money at the time.
The trustee demanded that Jayne turn over a pair of diamond earrings that Girardi purchased for $750k, stating that financial records showed that the earrings were purchased using his client’s money. Initially, Jayne refused, but later agreed to return the set. However, the trustee ordered the earrings to be turned over, and they were sold for $250k before Jayne filed an appeal seeking damages for a “legal error” made that resulted in her jewelry being auctioned off. However, the trustee has countered the appeal, saying that Jayne had several opportunities to ask the court to stay the sale of her earrings but failed to do so.
The trustee has accused Jayne of using the issue of statute of limitations in her appeal not because it is relevant to the now-moot appeal, but because she would like to use a reversal of the bankruptcy court’s decision for social media purposes. In response, the trustee argued that the higher court should deny Jayne’s plea to award her damages, citing her past actions in exposing her and her husband’s life on a reality show, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. As it stands, Jayne recently revealed in court that she owes the California Franchise Tax Board $2.2 million in back taxes and wrote in a declaration that she has no ability to pay.