The current season of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills has featured a Lake Tahoe trip, a discussion of the COVID-19 pandemic, the introduction of new housewife Crystal Kung-Minkoff, and a focus on Erika and Tom Girardi's tough divorce.
Now that Erika and Tom are involved in a legal case, people are wondering if Erika spends a ton of money, and all eyes are on her. Let's take a look at the situation.
Tom's Money
While Erika and Tom's age gap has often been on fans' minds, the divorce has brought up a legal case involving alleged embezzlement.
According to People.com, the families of victims of Lion Air Flight 610 say that Tom and Erika embezzled the funds that were supposed to be their settlement. A bankruptcy trustee is handling Tom Girardi's case right now, and the trustee said that Tom loaned Erika $20,000 for her work.
According to People.com, the trustee said, "The Debtor has admitted in numerous filed tax documents that Erika's related companies have received over $20,000,000 according to the tax documents spanning multiple years. Erika has created a new company after the news broke of this scandal which appears to simply be a successor company. Erika has multiple financial accounts and the Debtor's books show Erika owes large receivables to the Debtor."
There has also been talk about how much money Erika spends on a regular basis. People say she spent $40,000 for hair, makeup, and clothes, according to Refinery 29, and more alleged details were added in the special The Housewife And The Hustler. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Tom Girardi's net worth has really fallen. He said back in 2015 that he was worth $264 million, approximately, but during his court case in 2020, Tom said his previous net worth was between $50 and $80 million and he didn't have any more cash left. The publication says that Tom's current net worth is $100,000 and that Erika's is $5 million. It makes sense that Erika's husband would give her money for her Erika Jayne performances and everything associated with it, but of course, it's something that people are talking about now as the couple is getting divorced and going through a serious legal battle.
Erika On 'RHOBH'
Bankruptcy attorney Zev Shechtman told Variety.com in an interview that "it's unwise" for Erika to star on RHOBH.
Shechtman explained, “Anything that she does that flaunts her wealth, which is ostensibly everything she does, will be evidence against her. All of the assets, all the property that she has, is going to be a target. Everything that she does will be subject to scrutiny. And it’s not scrutiny in the tabloid sense, it’s scrutiny in the liability sense. If she ever is under oath, she’ll have a lot of evidence against her that she’ll have to account for. So you don’t want your client out there making public statements. And her whole life is a public statement.”
This is interesting to think about, as Erika has a song where she sings "It's expensive to be me" and she is always wearing absolutely amazing outfits.
According to Page Six, Erika said on the reality show that as she got more and more successful, he was "resentful." She explained, “Around the time of ‘Chicago,’ Tom’s view of me had changed. Like he was like, ‘Who the f–k do you think you are?’ I was like, ‘What are you talking about? You gave me the ball. I ran into the end zone with it. What the f–k are you doing?'" Erika also added, "I know how mean and how vicious and how utterly dismissive Tom is. Tom wins. You lose. The end.” It looks like this legal case is going to continue for a while: according to Us Weekly, a judge said that Erika could be vulnerable, as she can be asked to pay money that Tom owes people.
As Erika explained when talking to the Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills cameras, "People think that Erica Jayne brought down Tom Girardi. Tom Girardi brought down Tom Girardi. I don't want his actions to absolutely kill what I have created. I fear starting over. The only thing I have is my name and the hope that this is not where this ends for me." It's a tricky time to be a fan of The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills, as viewers feel badly for Erika and what she's going through, and then they read more and more news about her every day.
Fans definitely wonder what's next for Tom and Erika, along with what else will be revealed on RHOBH.