Erika Jayne named in new $2.1M lawsuit for ‘aiding and abetting’ Tom Girardi
Legal troubles continue to rain on Erika Jayne in light of
her estranged husband’s alleged embezzlement activities.
The “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star and her company,
EJ Global LLC, have been slapped with a $2.1 million lawsuit by attorney Manuel
H. Miller and his client Kathleen Bajgrowicz, the mother of late NFL star Chuck
Osborne, for allegedly “aiding and abetting” Tom Girardi and his law firm,
Girardi & Keese, according to legal documents obtained by Page Six.
The other defendant named in the lawsuit is Girardi’s former
law firm associate David Lira.
Filed Thursday, the lawsuit claims the Bravolebrity, 50,
“knew about the scheme” in which Girardi allegedly withheld money and that she
was aware victims were “funding her notoriously lavish lifestyle.”
Girardi, 82, and Miller had jointly represented Bajgrowicz
and “agreed to share the fees” when she sued the NFL over her son Chuck’s 2012
death from repeated head trauma, the suit alleges.
After reaching a settlement with the league, Girardi was
meant to distribute the funds to Bajgrowicz and Miller, but they allege in the
court documents that the embattled attorney “lulled [them] into believing that
the funds could not be distributed to anyone until various issues were first
resolved.”
Unknown to Plaintiffs, Girardi had already taken their money
and breached his and the firm’s fiduciary duty to distribute the funds to
Plaintiffs,” they claim in the lawsuit.
Miller and Bajgrowicz also claim Jayne and EJ Global knew
“Girardi was operating a Ponzi scheme” and had “assisted or encouraged Girardi”
because it “benefitted them financially.”
Miller claims to be owed $278,000, and Bajgrowicz is looking
for more than $1.8 million.
Jayne denied any wrongdoing in a statement via her attorney,
Evan C. Borges.
“The complaint is another misguided effort to blame Erika
for the conduct of others in which she had no part,” Borges told People in a
statement. “Erika has no law degree and never worked at or managed her former
husband’s law firm. Whatever Mr. Girardi or others at his law firm did or said
to the plaintiffs in this case, Erika had no knowledge or role in any of it.
“The focus should be on Mr. Girardi, his law firm and anyone
else who enabled what he did,” Borges continued. “Piling on Erika may generate
publicity, but it’s without any basis in reality.”
This latest lawsuit comes after the reality star received a
legal victory last month when she was dismissed from Girardi’s embezzlement and
fraud lawsuit in Illinois.
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