‘RHOB’ Star Erika Jayne’s Ex Tom Girardi Faces 80 Years in Prison

Martin Holmes August 28, 2024, 10:27 am

Tom Girardi and Erika Jayne — Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images; Monica Schipper/Getty Images)

Tom Girardi, the former attorney and estranged husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne, has been found guilty on four counts of wire fraud and could face up to 80 years in prison.

As reported by Page Six, a federal jury at a downtown Los Angeles courthouse made their verdict on Tuesday, August 27, finding Girardi guilty of embezzling more than $15 million from various clients from his now-defunct law firm, Girardi & Keese.

Each of the four counts carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, meaning Girardi could potentially be sentenced to 80 years behind bars. He is set to be sentenced in December.

The trial lasted 13 days, during which the jury heard from federal prosecutors that Girardi ran a decade-long Ponzi scheme by stealing and misappropriating tens of millions of dollars from his clients’ settlements. It was said the California-based lawyer would use the money to pay back other clients and spend on luxuries for himself and Jayne.

It took the jury less than a full day of deliberations to deliver the guilty verdict.

Girardi, who was known for helping win the trial that made Erin Brockovich into a household name, married Jayne in January 2000. He often appeared alongside his ex-wife on Real Housewives. The couple separated in November 2020.

One month after the divorce announcement, Girardi and Jayne were named in a lawsuit for allegedly embezzling funds meant for families of the victims of the fatal 2018 Lion Air plane crash. Then, in December 2020, a Los Angeles Times article alleged Girardi stole millions of dollars from vulnerable clients to funnel into EJ Global, a company set up to finance Jayne’s entertainment and singing career.

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The couple’s legal troubles were highlighted in the Hulu documentary The Housewife and the Hustler, released in June 2021, and followed up in the sequel, The Housewife and the Hustler 2: The Reckoning, in February 2024.

Girardi was disbarred in July 2022 and indicted in February 2023. In August 2022, a judge ruled that the plaintiffs could not prove Jayne had knowledge of or involvement in the alleged fraud.

According to Giradi’s federal public defenders, the firm’s former chief financial officer and Girardi’s co-defendant, Chris Kamon, was to blame for the misappropriated money. They claimed Girardi, who was diagnosed with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in March 2021, was taken advantage of and used as a pawn.

Girardi is set for another federal fraud trial in Chicago in March 2025.