Update 2/2/23 at 12:16 PM ET:
Keeping quiet — for now. Erika Jayne has some thoughts about estranged husband Tom Girardi‘s indictment on wire fraud charges, but she’s not ready to share them just yet.
“You know, I have something to say, but not right now,” the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, 51, told paparazzi on Wednesday, February 1, when asked about the charges, per the Daily Mail. “You’ll hear from me soon.”
The former lawyer, 83, was charged with five counts of wire fraud on Wednesday and accused of embezzling more than $15 million from his legal clients. While the Pretty Mess author has been named in lawsuits against her estranged husband, she has not been accused of any crimes.
Original story continues below:
What’s next for Erika Jayne after her estranged husband, Tom Girardi, was indicted? Whether the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star will have a new role in his ongoing legal cases is still to be determined.
“Erika (Jayne) Girardi is not charged. The investigation is ongoing,” Cieran McIvoy, public information officer for the Department of Justice, told Us Weekly on Wednesday, February 1, hours after Tom was charged with five counts of wire fraud.
A source notes that the indictment — which alleges Tom embezzled more than $15 million from his clients — “focuses on the activity involving the law firm.”
The insider adds, “It’s unclear if Erika will be on the witness list for prosecutors because the indictment was just unsealed.”
The Bravo star has yet to publicly comment on the latest in Tom’s legal woes as he remains in a senior living facility amid battles with late-onset Alzheimer’s and dementia. (Tom’s brother Robert Girardi was named the conservator of his person and estate in 2021.)
“Thomas Vincent Girardi should have been a pillar to our community,” Tyler Hatcher, the special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation’s Los Angeles field office, said on Wednesday. “Instead, he is accused of creating an elaborate scheme to mislead his clients, victimizing them for a second time. Attorneys are put in a position of trust when they represent us during some of our most difficult times. Mistrust in the legal profession grows when clients can’t trust their attorneys to pay them the settlements intended to make them whole.”
Erika filed for divorce from the disgraced lawyer in November 2020 after 21 years of marriage and one month later, the spouses were accused of fraud and embezzlement. While numerous lawsuits have popped up in recent years, Erika was dropped from the initial Lion Air Flight 610 crash victims filing in January 2022.
“So two years now down the road, we’re getting some really great rulings, and I’m grateful for that,” the “Roller Coaster” singer noted at BravoCon in October 2022. “And more to go. So I’m in a much better place, and I’m grateful for that.”
Months prior, she told Us that she was still “mourning” the end of her relationship with Tom.
“This was someone I was married to for over 20 years and was with, like, 23 [years]. It’s difficult,” Erika said n May 2022. “There are real moments of sadness, real moments of — like when the holidays came around, you know, for Christmas, I would just remember how much fun we would have. … But what are you going to do with that? These things happen in life. They happen to everyone; everyone’s mourning something.”
