Jewelry drama! Erika Jayne spoke out about the scandal surrounding her $750,000 earrings, which she lost in a June lawsuit involving her ex-husband Tom Girardi’s embezzlement case.
Amid rumors that the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star’s diamonds are up for auction, the 51-year-old reality star claimed that they’re “not.”
“They’re on appeal,” she explained to Us Weekly at BravoCon on Friday, October 14, adding, “We’ll see what happens.”
Erika Jayne lost the jewels when Judge Barry Russell ruled in June that “settlement funds from the trust account created for a class action handled by Thomas’ firm Girardi Keese were used to pay for the diamond earrings.” Though the judge did not believe that the Bravo personality “was aware the earrings were stolen property,” she was still ordered to return them.
“The lawsuit is another misguided attempt to blame Erika for actions of Tom Girardi and others of which she had no knowledge and in which she had no involvement,” Erika’s lawyer told Us in a statement following the ruling. “The truth, if it matters, was recently summarized by Bankruptcy Judge Russell: ‘From my standpoint, I accept what she has said. That given the nature of what I know about the case, just strictly from this case, I don’t think – to say it’s unlikely that she was aware of any of the shenanigans going on would be an understatement.’”
The California resident, for her part, filed an appeal one month later.
Though Erika claimed that the jewelry is not for sale, a spokesperson for John Moran Auctioneers claimed to Page Six on Tuesday that they are in fact up for auction. Per the company’s official website, the auction begins on December 7.
“They are quite possibly the most talked about jewelry in the world at the moment, which adds kind of an unknown excitement and interest factor,” Stephen Swan, vice president of John Moran Auctioneers, told the outlet. “We haven’t established a starting bid yet, but because it’s a court-ordered sale, the starting bid is going to be very attractive.”
Erika has repeatedly denied her involvement in her ex-husband’s alleged embezzlement drama, in which the former attorney, 83, purportedly took funds from plane crash victims he was representing and used them, in part, to purchase luxury items for his then-wife.
The “Exxpen$ive” singer filed for divorce from Girardi in November 2020 after more than 20 years of marriage. Girardi, who currently suffers from dementia, is currently residing in a senior living facility.
In addition to her legal woes, Erika exclusively claimed to Us on Friday that while she was not involved in her RHOBH costars Kathy Hilton and Kyle Richards’ feud, she wished she behaved differently on season 12 of the hit reality series.
“The only thing I regret this year is [the] alcohol and antidepressants,” she shared. “That is the only thing and that is not a good combination. So yeah, that was not my finest moment and that’s all I really, you know, regret [it].”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
