Erika Girardi: Are Erika & Tom Girardi the next Teresa & Joe Giudice?

Erika Girardi and Tom Girardi may have sealed their own fate when they went on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and bragged about their wealth.

Attorney Ronald Richards was on The Reality Reading Rainbow podcast this week and broke down some of the more complicated legalese regarding the lawsuits surrounding Erika Girardi and Tom Girardi.  The situation with the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star is developing quickly, but will likely take a long time to get through the court system.  Check out some of the interesting things Host Les Kurkendaal-Barrett and Ronald Richards discussed regarding the case.

Erika’s RHOBH admissions

When asked about Erika’s expensive habits and $40,000 a month glam squad, Richards noted that the court can use that information against her.  He said it’s called an admission and would be admissible in court.  Richards said Erika could claim she was exaggerating, but it seems likely that if Tom was stealing client money, her statements won’t help her.

This isn’t the first time the show has gotten a couple in trouble, either.  Kurkendaal-Barrett asked Richards about potential jail time for the Girardi’s, as was the outcome in the case with Teresa Giudice from The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

"“I’m very confident that Tom is going to be indicted and charged criminally.  I’ve never seen a lawyer do the type of things that have occurred in this case.  This is brazen conduct.  Agreeing to settlements without client consent, diverting settlement funds, making payments to clients with settlement funds, not paying lawyers,” Richards said."

Real wealth vs. reality TV wealth

Another interesting comment made during the podcast was about actual wealth in Beverly Hills.  Richards remarked that truly wealthy people do not want to go on television to flaunt it.  People like Tom and Erika probably don’t have actual wealth and don’t actually live in Beverly Hills.  They lived in Pasadena!

“People that actually live in Beverly Hills, very few would actually flaunt money like that and be so desperate, but I guess it makes great TV.”  Erika signed away her rights to privacy when she agreed to be on the show and therefore, is not entitled to any damages from the outcome of their time on RHOBH.

On the topic of Erika not being able to sell her clothes via the Vestiaire Collective app, Richards said that initially, Tom’s assets were frozen.  Once Erika started selling her clothing on Twitter, Edelson rushed back to court to be able to include Erika in the asset freeze.

The case is about embezzling funds from victims and she thought it would be a good idea to start selling off assets.  This is where the contempt and freeze order for Erika, specifically, came from.  At this point, Erika and Tom have no access to money, even to pay their lawyers.

Richards said that he doesn’t think any of the victims will be seeing the money they have been promised, mostly because they have no money to give.  At this point, if/when they go into bankruptcy, the court might start selling off assets but it likely won’t be enough.

Stay tuned to Ronald Richards Twitter for more up-to-date information about the case as it happens.  In the wise words of Erika Jayne, “What’d you just say my friend? Money’s making me deaf,” and broke, apparently.

Erika Girardi & The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills will be back next year on Bravo.