'RHOBH' Star Erika Jayne Slapped With $3 Million Lawsuit Over Husband's Unpaid Loan
By Ryan Naumann on August 2, 2019 at 8:02 AM EDT
Getty
“Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne is now a named defendant with her husband in a new lawsuit over another massive loan he allegedy failed to repay,
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, a company named Stillwell Madison filed a federal lawsuit against the reality star, her husband Thomas Girardi, and his law firm.
Stillwell claims to have loaned Girardi’s law firm $5,110,440.38 back in 2016. They were to be paid back from money made from the firm.
Girardi promised to hand over financial statements regularly and make timely payments. The lender says they would later learn, “Mr. Girardi re-directed all or part of the proceeds, to which Stillwell was contractually entitled, to himself and his wife in order to sustain their lavish lifestyle and maintain their glamorous public image."
The firm said Girardi failed to make all the required payments per their deal. Girardi then promised to start making monthly payments of $500k starting October 2018 and ending in September 2019. However, they claim, “Mr. Girardi has never followed through on any of his proposals—reinforcing the indication that he (nor the Firm) has, and continues to not have, any intention of repaying the loan balance.”
Stillwell says they, “would not have provided the Loan had it known that Defendants were going to use the Loan proceeds to, upon information and belief, support Mr. and Mrs. Girardi’s high-end lifestyle.”
The suit claims a balance of $3,454,804 remains on the loan. They sued seeking the full amount plus punitive damages and interest.
Girardi was recently hit with a $6 million-dollar judgment in a separate legal battle involving an unpaid loan.
Earlier this year, Girardi and his law firm, Girardi Keese, was sued by a company named Law Finance Group. The company claims they loaned Girardi a total of $15 million to fund the operations of his firm.
They alleged in the suit that they believed the money was used “to maintain Mr. Girardi’s lavish lifestyle.”
The lender claimed Girardi breached a repayment plan they agreed to in August 2018. The deal was for him to make monthly payments, along with a $1 million payment by the end of October, and $5 million by January 1.
The suit claimed Girardi originally agreed to use the Pasadena home he lives in with Erika Jayne as collateral in case he defaulted, the same home featured on “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”
Law Finance Group said Girardi has only made “hollow promises” to repay and hasn’t paid a dime. They sued for the full $15,151,989 owed and other damages.
Girardi strongly disputed the allegations in the lawsuit and told The Blast, “The truth of the matter is this. I have not taken one penny from the law firm in the past three years. I have devoted everything to assist in the cases that we have here. Further, the money that was borrowed, we agreed to repay in approximately two weeks before the lawsuit. It is slanderous that the money was for my ‘lifestyle’ … every penny went for costs in cases that the firm is handling.”
A judge recently ordered Girardi to pay $6 million to Law Finance, which will grow with interest into paid in full.