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‐Erika Jayne I have seen on this show
and I also worked with her on "Watch What Happens Live"
one...one or two times.
didn ́t get the best vibe from her,
but I know a lot of fake people
and it turns out she ́s just one of them.
♫♫
‐We are back with "The Real Housewives" star
accused with her husband of staging a fake divorce
to hide money from the families of plane crash victims.
‐Thomas Girardi is accused of embezzlement.
A federal lawsuit says he took money from a settlement fund to
maintain their wealthy public image.
♫♫
‐It had all the elements,
Hollywood, L. A., huge cases,
along with a "Real Housewife"
‐It was like a movie.
‐Tom Girardi was L. A. law, a superstar.
‐Legendary for winning millions of dollars in settlements.
‐Tom was being accused by his own clients,
that hired him, that trusted him for stealing money.
‐That ́s the worst thing a lawyer could do.
‐He had private jets. He had a Pasadena mansion.
He was spending $40,000 a month on Erika and her glam squad.
they were just blowing money left and right, tons of money.
♫♫
‐He would make jokes like, "Oh, nobody would be
more expensive than Erika."
And then out came her song, "I ́m Expensive."
‐♫ Ching! It ́s expensive to be me ♫
♫ Eh, eh, eh, eh‐eh‐eh ♫
♫ Eh, eh, eh ♫
♫ Looking this good don ́t come for free ♫
‐Like, yeah, big surprise. ‐Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
‐She said, "I have two personalities
like Mrs. Girardi and I ́m Erika Jayne
it ́s built on I am the third wife,
I have the money, I spend the money.
This man is going to give me the money
because I ́m that fantastic and that ́s that."
♫♫
‐It bothered me a little bit,
seeing them live this extravagant lifestyle.
It often that made me wonder, like I wonder if some of that
money ́s mine. ‐Out of the $135,000 settlement
I haven ́t received anything. Not a penny.
‐This is Tom Girardi, don ́t be mad at me. It ́s not my fault.
♫♫
‐So, Tom Girardi owed you $12 million?
‐Yes. Yes.
‐It ́s like, wow. Like broke, like broke, broke?
You know, like but not the client ́s money, right?
‐I think the biggest question that everybody has is,
"Did she know?" ‐Any of the lawsuits
hike, did you have a heads up? Is that why you got divorced?
‐No, I did not.
‐He was taking money in some cases it ́s been alleged
and investing it into Erika ́s business,
into her career. And the allegations
are that that money was coming from clients.
‐People love a good scandal.
♫♫
‐I had to be a double agent for my friend.
I always try to tell people,
never underestimate the love of a mother.
You want to find something out? I mean, don ́t call the FBI,
call a mom.
‐Girardi said we were his favorite clients.
And I definitely never wanted to be his favorite client.
But I definitely want to be the client he never forgets.
♫♫
‐I don ́t think he saw it, yeah.
‐Could you imagine
living your life without this kind of wealth?
‐Yeah, I could. I wouldn ́t want to, but I can.
Sure. I could do it. Yeah.
‐Mm‐hmm. What would that look like?
‐Smaller. I don ́t know. I don ́t know, you know. Less clothes.
‐You would hate it. ‐I wouldn ́t.
I‐I‐I don ́t look forward to that, no.
No, I do not. ‐You don ́t have to
look forward to it. ‐No, I would not look forward
to something like that, no.
‐Erika! ‐Erika, right here!
‐I reached out to her right at the beginning, I was like,
"Would you please come on my podcast?"
Made it clear it was not being filmed,
but she arrived with the hair guy,
a wardrobe person, and I think a makeup person.
And I remember thinking that, "Wow, that ́s a $2,000 day
to come do my audio‐only podcast."
‐Jesus, Marco. ‐She wasn ́t afraid of her body,
her sensuality. ‐There ́s your girl.
‐There she is. ‐And I liked that,
even though she really can ́t hold a tune, she sang.
‐♫ I ́m a temptress ♫ ‐Wow!
‐♫ I ́m your mistress ♫
‐And she entertained, she was entertaining.
‐♫ I ́m your weakness ♫
‐I think what intrigued people
on "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" franchise
was that they seemed to be this incredible power couple.
She ́s hot and beautiful and confident.
And then Tom Girardi is this rock star attorney
who fights for the little guy,
makes hundreds of millions of dollars.
‐♫ Blame it on the money ♫
♫ Blame it on the money ♫
♫♫
‐Tom Girardi was L. A. law.
He is Mr. Lawyer. ‐A superstar.
‐An icon. ‐Bad‐ass trial lawyer.
‐We ́re just talking the money that we ́re really going to get.
And that ́s $15 million.
‐♫ I ́m a man without conviction ♫
‐If you had a case that had the potential
to resolve itself
or be resolved for millions and millions of dollars,
his was the kind of firm that you wanted to go to.
He didn ́t just represent LA ́s elite,
he represented a lot of average folks, too.
♫ Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma chameleon ♫
♫ You come and go, you come and go ♫
‐When I became a lawyer over 30 years ago,
I knew who Tom Girardi was from day one.
‐♫ Red, gold, and green, red, gold, and green ♫
‐And then, of course, the case came along,
which a lot of people refer to as the Brockovich case,
where he sued PG&E.
‐PG&E has requested that we submit the binding arbitration.
‐What ́s that?
‐Tom Girardi was depicted in the Erin Brockovich movie.
But in real life, he ́s the actual attorney
who closed the deal that at the time
was the largest settlement of its kind.
‐Good evening and welcome to "Prime Time."
This is a story you have never heard before.
A story about family and neighbors.
The country ́s largest public utility and broken trust.
‐We ́ve represented people against Exxon.
We ́ve represented people against Dow.
This is a million times worse.
‐A million times worse? ‐That ́s right.
They let these innocent people drink water,
which was laced with chromium, day in and day out.
It ́s as bad as it gets. ‐He was famous for that.
And people knew that he was famous for that.
But he was famous before I became a lawyer.
He was famous before many people
who are lawyers today were even born.
♫♫
‐Erika was born in 1971 to a music teacher in Georgia.
Her dad left when she was only one years old
and she always wanted to be in the entertainment industry.
♫♫
When she was 18, she moved to New York
to try to get a career going.
She ended up working at a very famous go‐go/strip club.
‐Was a go‐go dancer at Shakers, a bar in New Jersey.
‐Erika and I worked at the same strip club.
Shakers is in Lodi, New Jersey, and it is one of the clubs
next to the Bada Bing Club, which was on "The Sopranos."
‐Buonanima. ‐Buonanima.
‐A lot of girls have been wheeled through there.
I was just one of them and one of many.
‐She was someone who wanted a different life for herself
and then eventually made her way to L. A.
and was a waitress and met a very wealthy,
much older man that she connected with.
And I mean, that ́s kind of the L. A. dream.
‐They got married very off the cuff at a country club.
‐As the story goes, Tom Girardi asked the judge
if a judge would officiate over a marriage ceremony with Erika.
They pulled an attorney from the bar as a witness.
They got married on the spot and there was no prenup.
♫♫
‐Tom had a law firm, Girardi Keese.
The pay was good, but the perks were great.
‐It was just extra.
It was normal to stay at the Ritz‐Carlton.
The Christmas party was at The Jonathan Club.
Every year you have someone like LeAnn Rimes
come and sing Christmas carols to your 300 closest friends.
‐♫ Merry Christmas ♫
♫ On, on they send, on without end ♫
♫ Their joyful tone, to ev ́ry home ♫
♫ Ding, dong, ding, dong ♫
‐There ́s an annual conference in Las Vegas.
He would host a dinner, and that was the hottest ticket in town.
‐There was Jay Leno performing.
Erin Brockovich was at the table.
‐I remember one time I was with Tom
and he actually points to a judge across the room
and actually goes like this.
And this judge ran up to him like a puppy dog.
I saw the power that he could wield right then and there.
‐He was the man that people went to who wanted to get appointed
to the bench and become judges.
He was the person that people who wanted to run
for public office would go and meet and talk to.
‐You have some ties to Erika Jayne.
‐That ́s right. ‐Right?
‐Well, I mean, indirect ties in political ties.
‐Right. ‐Because her husband ́s
one of the major donors in California politics.
‐Wow. And does he give to you?
‐He has been extraordinarily generous to me.
‐Nice! ‐So she is my favorite
"Real Housewife."
‐So Erika Girardi, after being a Housewife
for years to Tom Girardi, goes to Tom Girardi and says,
"I really want to have a music career and be an entertainer."
‐♫ Rah, ruffle up my feathers ♫
♫ Strip it and shake it better ♫
♫ Take a dirty picture ♫
‐And she asked him, more importantly, to finance it.
‐I think he kind of loved that he had this very sexy,
young, burgeoning pop star wife.
He put a lot of money, you know, into making her Erika Jayne.
‐I mean, the titles of her songs and stuff are now
just like, "It ́s Expensive to Be Me"
and "I Give Zero F ́s" and everything.
‐♫ None, not one ♫
♫ Zero, zero, zero ♫
♫ Done ♫
‐Erica says there was no return on investments.
So Tom Girardi was probably
going to have her throw in the towel,
but then all of a sudden she gets cast on
"The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills."
‐I ́m an enigma wrapped in a riddle and cash.
‐She was very good casting.
She was probably the best since me.
‐Being broke sucks and being rich is a lot better.
‐They wanted girls that could get in there and entertain,
but yet hold their own. ‐The wealth that we get to see
Erika Girardi have on the show
is almost difficult to wrap your brain around.
‐She leveled up the whole "Housewife" game
when she got on "Beverly Hills."
♫♫
‐I ́m going to give you a little tour of the house.
♫♫
‐I will take you down to the fun part of the house,
which is my closet. ‐Oh, I love it.
‐It ́s expensive. So, come in here.
‐Oh, my God. ‐It ́s kind of a mess.
But you can come in here. ‐Oh, my God.
Oh, yeah, It ́s a mess. It ́s a mess.
‐It ́s a mess. But it ́s a it ́s a good one.
‐It made me think that I probably should ́ve
gone to law school.
I didn ́t know that you could attain that much wealth
by being a trial attorney.
‐So this is supposed to be reality, "reality" television,
but is it really a reality?
Are we really seeing what ́s going on? Probably not.
‐Erika! ‐Erika!
‐And this facade starts crumbling
when Erika Jayne files for divorce in 2020.
We now start to learn what is really going on there.
♫♫
‐There is a huge amount of pressure
to maintain the lifestyle
on the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills."
‐Uh, did, you know? $25,000.
‐If you don ́t want to look like a loser with,
like a loser event, for example, you know,
I might be launching like a shoe line
and I was going to do a $10,000 party.
But now that I know it ́s on TV, I ́m like, "Uh‐oh,
I better make it $100,000 party
because I don ́t want to look like my shoe isn ́t great."
So then the number goes up.
‐It ́s all about keeping up with the Joneses or in this case,
the Leakes or the Candies or the Kenyas or the Terrace ́s
or the Vickies or the Tamras.
‐The ladies ladies, ladies I use loosely.
They had a tendency to always and still do
want well beyond their means.
‐There ́s a duality that will take place on this show
because at one hand it is aspirational,
or it feels to be aspirational,
but on the other hand, you see that wealth does
not solve, really, any of these women ́s problems.
There is a specific category of housewives
that fall into this echelon of "housewives with legal issues."
‐Real trouble. ‐The charges she ́s facing
are serious. ‐Appearing to serve a 15 month
sentence for fraud.
‐You ́ve got sort of a patron saint of this category
is Teresa Giudice who famously, you know, committed wire fraud
with her husband and went to jail.
And the whole entire thing was sort of filmed on this show.
‐Luann kicked a police officer, and Jen Shah from Utah,
is accused of running a telemarketing scheme.
‐Charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and
money laundering, pleading not guilty.
‐And what is so interesting is every time one of these women
is caught up in some type of legal situation,
the first thing that all of us think is,
"My God, I hope the cameras are rolling."
‐What ́s it like to have cameras in your house all the time?
‐It ́s really bad. ‐Do you ever get used to it?
‐No. ‐No. Oh, my gosh.
‐But nobody gets used to it.
‐I ́m always asking this one for advice.
I ́m always asking this one, "What should I do?"
How do I handle it? What what? What do I do?
And that ́s, you know, that ́s the truth. This is my leader.
‐How do you like being on camera for "Real Housewives"?
‐I prefer to be in a courtroom someplace.
‐There you go.
‐I recall watching a couple episodes
and I just shook my head
because there was talk in there about Tom ́s age.
There was talk in there, I believe,
about his sexual prowess at his age.
‐And what ́s he like in the sack?
‐My wife turned to it one day, some months ago,
and and he was on the show and she said,
"Don ́t you know him?"
‐I decided to give you something to put on your eyes.
‐I was more than a little bit surprised.
Surprise to see him there.
‐Here ́s a painting by Marc Chagall.
‐Chagall is one of Tom ́s favorite painters.
‐Is this it?
‐And his paintings can go for over a million dollars easily.
‐Oh, wow. Tom, this is Beautiful.
‐Probably most appalling was the talk about the fact
that they had two airplanes.
‐We have two airplanes in the family.
So, you know, the little one is more regional
and the larger one is cross country and Europe.
‐And that ́s, I think, crossing the line in what we do.
We represent people who are victimized by big corporations
and, and rich people.
And here you ́re putting that out that you ́re super wealthy
and that you ́re basically The Man.
We sue The Man. You don ́t want to be The Man.
And he ́s showing people that he ́s The Man.
♫♫
‐When your money comes from people who had cancer and burns
and had great suffering,
you know, there ́s a little bit amount of decorum
that you ́d think you ́d want to have in the way
you display the world.
There ́s plenty of lawyers that have private jets
and beautiful homes, but there ́s one way to do it
and one way that ́s basically like a middle finger to people.
♫♫
‐My name is Joe Ruigomez and I ́m a survivor.
So the first time I met Tom Girardi,
I had just woken up out of my coma.
Be honest, there ́s not a lot I remember about meeting him.
I have like a vague memory of just like some guy in my room,
like, you know, "I ́m going to do a good job for you, kiddo."
and he made you feel like you can trust him
and that he ́s that guy.
♫♫
‐Good morning, America, it ́s Thursday, September 9th.
‐We ́re going to start with what ́s going on in
the western areas.
‐So...
September 9, 2010, felt like the longest day
of my life. ‐Everything we did that day
like kind of was a matter of life or death.
My son and his girlfriend, Jessica Morales,
were going to sit on the couch and watch the game.
‐Off we go at the goal line.
‐It was going to be opening day of the NFL season that day.
And my living room is probably right about here.
And then out of nowhere,
the ground just starts rapidly shaking.
And it sounds like there ́s a jet engine right out front.
That went on for about 3 seconds and then just boom.
‐Breaking news tonight in San Bruno, California,
a towering fire is just burning out of control.
‐Police say a gas line erupted into a massive fireball.
‐Fire just came flowing through the house.
I couldn ́t see anything. I was surrounded by flame,
managed to find the door to my backyard.
And I remember as I was opening up the door for a split second,
I just remember having my life flash in front of me
and just thinking like, "Alright, this is it."
A hundred percent certainty. I ́m dying.
‐A scene of total devastation home after home leveled.
♫♫
‐I just remember them putting like an oxygen mask
on my, on my face
and within five seconds I was out.
‐I could remember that day like it was yesterday.
I was watching Thursday Night Football
and I received a phone call, went to the hospital.
And that ́s where my interactions with Joe began.
I had burns over 80, 90 percent of his body.
It was little bit more than, "Oh, my God," I was more like
holy
‐They ́re like, "You got to get out of here."
They look like they were really working on him.
‐Joe was like inside an oven.
Not only was the external part of the skin burned,
but the air he was inhaling was burning the his lungs.
♫♫
‐After we end up leaving the hospital,
me, my husband, and his sister
went back over to our old neighborhood.
You could just see, it was just, devastated.
It was like wondering about, you know, "Where ́s Jessica?"
And like went around, "People need to look for her, find her."
And, uh, yeah, they ended up finding her
a couple of days later, I guess,
in our neighbor ́s shed.
She must have died in the shed.
So, yeah, that. yeah, it was just devastating.
♫♫
‐One of the last words we said to each other was,
"I love you," so just, you know.
Uh, yeah. Yeah.
‐My first instinct was to get my car and just go there.
And when I got there, Kathy was literally,
you know, white as a ghost.
‐She came up and thank God she did
and just handled so much
so I could just keep going to the hospital.
‐So Kathy Ruigomez is my childhood best friend,
and we met when we were three years old.
♫♫
‐We were in the same preschool and we lived on the same street.
♫♫
‐When we were around 11 years old,
there was this trend of doing this blood sister like ritual.
Luckily, I still have my copy.
‐We just decided we were going to be bonded forever.
‐We were pregnant at the same time with Joseph and Paul.
It ́s been 48 years of friendship,
and I can say that we ́ve never said
an unkind word to each other.
♫♫
‐We were getting bombarded with people at the hospital,
everybody was like wanting to be our lawyer
and I knew we needed to get a lawyer
because I knew Joe was going to need
a lot of assistance in the future.
‐Kathy and her husband at the time
wanted to meet with Tom Girardi.
And because I had worked with Masry & Vititoe
I called them and asked them if they would set up a meeting.
‐At the time of the explosion.
Kim was working as a legal consultant.
And that was so crucial for Kathy,
because the average person
doesn ́t know how to navigate this kind of situation.
Who do you find? What kind of lawyer do you need?
Where do you go? Who do you call?
Kim had all of those answers.
♫♫
‐We went and met with him in this big high‐rise office
on Montgomery Street in downtown San Francisco,
and that was the first time I had met Tom in person,
‐Thomas Girardi, you know,
let me know that everything was going to be okay.
No one had said that to me yet, and it just was comforting.
‐I called Tom a chameleon of words,
meaning that he always knows what to say to a person.
‐We walk in, he ́s calculating by what we wear, what we say,
how we hold our posture.
‐We thought he could win it for us.
We were confident about that.
We just didn ́t know how much of a snake
he was going to be along the way.
♫♫
‐When Kathy and her family picked Tom,
it felt like such a big relief off of our shoulders,
you know, like it ́s Girardi Keese,
like, they ́re going to kick their ass.
Like, we don ́t have to worry
about any of the legal stuff anymore.
‐This is what he handed me when when I met him,
he gave me a resumé with all his credentials.
‐Wasn ́t there list of cases?
‐And then magazines with post‐its on every page
that he ́s mentioned.
‐When you ́re going up against PG&E they ́re a shark.
You ́re not going to bring the guppy to the shark fight.
You know, the fact that Tom had taken on PG&E twice
and beat them,
not only is his track record with the defendant matter,
but also the fact that when you ́re a mom on a mission,
you want your lawyer to hate the bad guy as much as you do.
♫♫
Really, he took me under his wing.
He ́d answer any question I had about the legal profession.
And he was a master of it.
So I feel like I got this informal internship.
How crazy is that, knowing what I know now?
I mean.
‐So once I actually got to know Tom a little bit,
he would take me out to dinner.
He was not a very big guy physically.
It ́s probably like 5 ́5" maybe at the tallest.
But he just exuded confidence and charm.
He was always talking about Erika.
"Oh, she ́s the sweetest thing."
"Look at you like this tie I ́m wearing, Joe?
She picked it out. Yeah, she ́s really good at style."
And, "Oh, look at this music video that I did for her."
He ́s fought these big battles before
and has gotten large settlements.
So I ́m like, this seems like the perfect guy for the job.
♫♫
‐They found out it was a faulty pipe.
Basically was negligence on their part.
He never really gave us details
about what he was doing in the case,
but I still thought he was really, really great.
It just seemed like he was trying to be very friendly
and letting us know that he was there for us,
gave us his cell phone, home phone,
we had went to mediation and he, you know,
made it sound like we were going to go to trial.
And when we walked in, he was like,
"I settled your case."
It was like, "Oh, okay, you did?"
‐You know, I didn ́t feel like they really had a grasp
on what happened that day.
And I knew part of it is you ́re stunned in a situation like that
and you ́re just not absorbing it.
‐They were just throwing numbers out like, you know,
he could get this much a month.
He ́s going to, you know,
have payments throughout his life.
‐A number of the settlement that Tom got.
Yeah, I was okay with that number. Yeah.
To put it simply, it was, it was yeah. It was a good amount.
It was a good amount and made me feel comfortable.
So it made me feel like
it would be able to cover any issues in life and then some.
‐After a trial or it can be just a settlement,
the money goes into your trust account.
‐Those funds need to be held
in that trust account, separate and apart
from the law firm. Now, at that point in time,
you ́re entitled to your legal fees,
but the rest of the money belongs to the client.
You ́re not allowed to touch that money, it ́s not your money.
‐To remove those funds for any reason before it ́s clear
that there ́s a proper accounting of what the client should get,
that is probably one of the most serious offenses by attorneys,
certainly in California. And I would think nationwide,
every single lawyer knows that if you dip
into the client ́s account, you will be disbarred.
♫♫
‐So he said it would take about three months
to process getting the money from PG&E and then asked
if we ́d like to keep my daughter ́s money and our money
and then my son ́s big settlement
in something that he ́d invested in.
‐He suggested that he would take their millions of dollars
of settlement funds
and put that money into some kind of an account
that would guarantee six percent interest.
‐And he ́s supposedly a millionaire.
I thought he knew how to deal with money.
Obviously, he was, you know, so he made it sound
like it was a great thing to do.
And then after everything was paid,
he would send us, you know, our balance.
So we were like, OK, you know, that sounds good.
And so that ́s what we did.
‐So in the very beginning and after it settled in 2013,
I mean, it didn ́t feel like things made sense right away.
‐The amounts of the investment, he claimed, were not accurate.
He never sent any statements of any kind.
‐I mean, it was as simple as me noticing, like, okay,
I ́m expected to get a payment this day and I didn ́t get it.
So I would call him.
And, you know, if he was hard to get a hold of, would be like,
"Oh, yeah, sorry about that. ́These things happen. ́
I ́ll get it to you next week."
And half the time the check would come when he ́d say so
the second time and other times it wouldn ́t.
‐That was the three months after we settled.
That was the first time we were supposed to meet with him,
where he was supposed to bring our money.
That ́s when he met with us and
and then basically offered us the investment deal.
‐When I hear the voicemails, it makes me sick to my stomach
because I know that it was just all a lie.
Me and Kathy were on the phone every day for hours
trying to sort things out.
Viciously Googling things, and she ́s asking me
my point of view with my perspective,
you know, my experience in the legal profession.
And we ́re trying to figure it out.
‐You know, I would be coming home from wherever
and my mom would be like buried in paperwork or talking to Kim
on the phone and she had connects on the inside.
‐There were times that we were pretty scared
because we didn ́t know what pushing this would really do.
♫♫
Um, Mrs. Hernandez, this is Tom Girardi.
I want ‐‐ I know you ́re so frustrated and mad
and everything.
And I don ́t blame you. I am, too.
‐My name is Josie Hernandez.
And I am a former client of Tom Girardi.
In 2010, I seeked out a doctor. I have three kids,
and as most women do when they have kids,
they have incontinence issues.
So I talked to my doctor about it.
He said, "Oh, now we have this sling. We ́re going to ‐‐
it ́s so super safe ‐‐ implant it you ́ll be good.
Did the procedure, didn ́t work.
Started feeling sick. I went back to the doctor.
He says, "Okay, let ́s put in another one.
And things just got worse.
♫♫
So a friend said, "You know what, I know somebody
who can help you. He ́s going to fight for you."
So I went to the Girardi Keese firm,
I signed up with them in 2014.
During the time that I was with that firm, my case
changed hands various times, which I thought was strange.
I thought, "Okay, why are these attorneys leaving?"
It was just a big turnover.
That was, that was very stressful.
By 2019, I was getting really like,
"Okay, no, I ́m done. I ́m done waiting.
You guys have had more than enough time. What is going on?"
And I said, "You know what, I need you to tell Mr. Girardi
that I need to know what ́s going on with my case."
‐I just can ́t imagine being a victim.
And watching any episode of "The Real Housewives"
and watching Erika Jayne
go through her extensive shoe collection,
her closet, her home, her private plane going on trips
and flaunting all of this wealth.
Without wondering where it came from.
♫♫
‐Joe Ruigomez checking in. 10:30.
‐Come on in, bud. ‐What ́s up, man?
‐Have a seat.
In terms of how you feel today, what what what ́s going on today?
‐I got restrictions underneath my arm, like, when I lift up,
I still have the range of motion,
but it ́s just super restrictive and painful.
I ́ve had over 30 surgeries just as of today,
I have like five or six that are on the back burner
that I need to get done and it ́s just going to be
a continued process for the rest of my life, unfortunately.
‐A skin graft on in a skin graft area
is probably not your best answer.
‐Also, I ́m in quite a lot of fear,
I ́m going to need a lot of money
for the medical life that I have ahead.
♫♫
Whenever I would complain to him about, you know,
"Hey, Tom, you said you were going to pay me on this day
and it ́s been three weeks, what ́s going on?"
He would call me back and be like,
"Oh, are you mad at me?" He would butter me up.
"You know what, Joe? You ́re a bitchin ́ guy."
That ́s something he would say a lot.
"You ́re a bitchin ́ guy, baby."
When I ́d ask him for money,
he would reference this guy called Justice Panelli.
♫♫
‐Edward Panelli, is a former
California Supreme Court justice.
He retired and became a private judge.
He was the mediator between the Ruigomez family and PG&E.
‐And it was always Justice Panelli said this
Justice Panelli said that,
that was like his, like, scapegoat guy.
And I ́m like, "Well, it ́s you know,
this is some of this stuff is for surgeries, you know,
but he would always reference him and make it sound like
I can ́t give you this money or I can ́t give you this amount
because Justice Panelli said I can ́t.
Definitely kind of treated me like a child a little bit.
‐Yeah, he was already over 18 when it happened.
So, yeah, there ́s no reason for for that.
And the way he makes it sound like
Justice Panelli really cared.
Justice Panelli really wasn ́t very interested in us at all.
You could tell.
♫♫
‐About a year after the settlement,
the Ruigomez family realizes that something is going on,
they haven ́t gotten their settlement money
and they ́re starting to question this more and more.
And then something terrible happens.
♫♫
‐After Paul died, Kathy came down the next day,
just like I went to her house
when something terrible happened to her family.
No one could imagine that amount of tragedy.
♫♫
‐That just kind of detoured us from a lot of it.
And now we ́re just devastated over her son
and dealing with that.
♫♫
‐It was that moment basically where my son ́s death,
like, gave Tom a free pass to start all over again,
with me and Kathy.
Because now my son ́s dead.
And...
we don ́t really want to know the truth.
Because the truth is so ugly at this point,
and now we ́re dealing
with a whole new set of tragic circumstances.
♫♫
Kathy and I talked about, you know, maybe it ́s a good idea
for me to take it to another attorney
so that it doesn ́t add any more complications,
because what if you know that what we think is true
or what if we need to make a demand for Joe ́s money?
So I went and met with other lawyers,
but people didn ́t want to do my son ́s case
because they didn ́t want to step on Tom Girardi ́s toes.
My back ́s against the wall, too,
so we pulled the trigger and file.
The lawsuit with Tom, as you know, my attorney.
You know, what choice do we really have?
January 2017 would have been the last time
that Tom gave Joe money from the money
that he was managing for him.
‐Got to a point where you just, you know,
the checks disappeared completely.
It was pretty conclusive to me in my mind.
I ́m like, okay, something really sinister is going on here
and it ́s making me really nervous.
Like, you know, I just bought a house like,
you know, I might have to sell that now
because I can ́t keep up with the mortgage.
‐Kathy and I would joke like, because we are like,
who are we going to call?
Like, we can ́t call the D. A. that ́s Tom ́s friends.
We can ́t go to the chief of police.
That ́s Tom ́s friend.
You can ́t go to the California Attorney General.
That ́s Tom ́s friend.
You can ́t go to the California bar.
That ́s Tom ́s friends. Like, who are we going to call?
Like, "Ghostbusters"? Who ́s going to help us?
‐Twenty or more years ago, you started hearing rumors
about him not paying his co‐counselor,
his referring lawyers.
There were stories about a lot of lawsuits
that were filed against him. And of course,
I think a lot of people chalk that up to big name, big cases,
enemies come out of the woodwork,
and, and maybe that ́s what was going on.
‐I plugged Tom Girardi ́s name into our own archives.
You know, every once in awhile. Something kind of slipped in
where there was a client accusing him
of doing something wrong or doing something unethical
or not giving them all of their money.
‐There were lawsuits.
You know, and he knew there were lawsuits referenced on
"Watch What Happens Live" or on blogs or whatnot.
‐Vegan in Minnesota said, "Ask Erika if she feels the need
to cut back on her glam squad
since her husband is being sued for a huge amount of money?"
We got a lot of questions about this.
Anything you want to say about that?
‐Yeah, it ́s a lawsuit and you can ́t comment on it.
‐I think when she brushed it off and said, "I can ́t discuss it,"
I think people just were like, "Okay."
They didn ́t, it was too complicated
for anyone to really, like,
want to sink their teeth into and expose it.
They took her word for it.
‐You ́d hear, like, "Oh, Girardi doesn ́t have any more money,"
you just kind of hear things talking to people,
people gossiping, the rumor mill.
‐I remember at some point in time a judge telling me,
"You know, Tom doesn ́t have that much money left."
I thought, "You got to be kidding me."
This is a guy that we believe
worth ́s a couple hundred million dollars.
He ́s set for life.
‐I don ́t want you mad at me.
I ́m working like a dog to try and get this thing resolved.
‐He sounds like he, he wouldn ́t hurt a fly.
Like he ́s team, Josie, like even though
he ́s an attorney for all these important people,
he ́s team Josie, you know?
‐I know it ́s very frustrating to wait so long for a settlement
and then to be delayed further, that ‐‐ I ́m in your corner.
Believe me, we ́d like our money just like you ́d like yours.
‐Yeah. He ́s unbelievably cruel doing that,
knowing he already had my money.
‐I ́m sorry. Don ́t be mad at me. I ́m a good guy, by the way.
Goodbye.
‐I filed a complaint with the bar.
I was also able to get a confirmation
his firm received my money May 2020.
The messages that he left me was in August.
So he was lying, he was lying, he had my money already.
‐You thought you were going to get maybe as much as $100,000.
‐I haven ́t received anything. ‐Not a single thing?
‐Not a penny.
♫♫
‐Election Day, 2020.
‐I was at home and I was just scrolling the Internet.
I think I was getting ready for work.
‐The news alerts came in so early.
♫♫
‐Erika Jayne and her divorce from estranged husband
Tom Girardi amid their ongoing legal troubles.
‐Erika Jayne from "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills"
filed for divorce from her husband, Tom.
‐It was breaking news that Erika had filed for divorce from Tom.
‐My phone was flooded with texts from friends.
‐Everyone was like, "Something crazy is brewing."
‐I was not surprised when Erika Jayne announced
that she was divorcing Tom Girardi
because there were rumors swirling in Beverly Hills
that that was coming.
‐Can you elaborate at all on the rumors?
‐I can ́t. but I can tell you that it may or may not have had
to do with financial problems.
‐I definitely had heard some rumblings that there were
some legal issues, but I had no idea the magnitude.
‐To put it into complete context,
you have to understand that before Erika filed for divorce,
there were these lenders who were suing Tom very publicly.
‐He had taken out tens of millions of dollars in loans
and he wasn ́t paying them back properly.
‐Why would Tom, who has won hundreds of millions of dollars
in settlements and verdicts, need to to borrow money?
‐The easiest way for people to basically understand this
is that just like any business might go out
and secure a loan
in order to run or operate their business,
lawyers will do the same thing.
But sometimes people do it because they ́re in trouble.
And apparently these were the types of loans
that were coming due for Girardi before the divorce.
‐So after a couple of the lenders had filed lawsuits
against Tom, I mean,
we knew that we had to get out of there.
We couldn ́t wait for Paul ́s case to be done anymore.
We had ‐‐ Paul is dead. Joe is still alive.
So we had to pick Joe. He had to be the priority again
because he ́s the one still here, you know?
And so me and Kathy scooped up our stuff and left.
And, you know, luckily we found an attorney
who could help them and help me.
♫♫
‐He signed an agreement
that he would make a million dollar payment
and then like a couple months later,
it was like a two and a half million dollar payment.
But he never got to the second payment.
‐It ́s very disappointing when you find out your lawyer
basically robbed you,
knowing that he knows everything that I ́ve been through.
I just don ́t get it.
‐So they dragged him back into court,
turned this settlement into an actual judgment
that ́s enforceable and then they deposed him.
‐You don ́t see depositions this alarming.
‐It ́s like, wow, like broke?
Like broke, broke?
Like but not the client ́s money, right?
‐I was like, "Oh crap, he admits it."
This is his own words.
He had $50 or $80 million, he says.
And now, you know, there ́s nothing left.
‐So the first question that comes to my mind is
where did it go?
Where ́s the money?
And that admission that he is broke, he has no money,
opens up the door to Erika ́s finances.
♫♫
‐I think there was a period of time
where the rumors started to escalate,
it was a very slow, it ́s almost like a slow car wreck
that you ́re watching occur.
‐Tom had a very substantial legal history.
We saw one case and then another and then another.
We saw this flurry of activity that had been going on
very quietly over the last several years.
That was really where we started just trying to map out
what exactly was happening.
It was just very unusual to have all of that happening at once.
‐In December, 2020, a Chicago lawyer
files a lawsuit against Tom
because he hadn ́t been paid,
several of his clients hadn ́t been paid.
And now this whole thing blows up because now it ́s public.
‐The Chicago case was groundbreaking in the sense
that it finally brought out in the public eye
to all the media outlets
that Tom Girardi potentially was a fraud.
‐This was the Lion Air crash the 737 MAX crashed in Indonesia.
In 2018, I was involved in that litigation,
I represented families as well,
who had lost loved ones on that crash.
We were all in the process of working with Boeing
to resolve our cases.
‐Tom Girardi and his firm represented several
specifically widows and orphans of these plane crash victims,
so on their behalf, he won multimillion dollar settlements.
‐The attorney who filed the Chicago case,
Jay Edelson, what he said is
that actually I had been trying for a long time
to get the settlement money from my clients,
basically chasing Girardi and his staff for money for months.
‐I think this was the emperor is not wearing any clothes moment,
if you will.
One of the things that really struck me in my interview
with Jay Edelson on my podcast
was the the thing that made him realize
that he had to file a civil litigation against Tom Girardi.
Was Erika Girardi filing for divorce.
He believed that Tom had stolen tens of millions
of dollars from creditors, loan companies, and victims
so that he could fund his lavish lifestyle
that he presented to his colleagues.
And on the show, "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,"
for his wife, Erika Girardi,
‐That ́s the worst thing a lawyer could ever do,
is steal money from clients.
And it ́s worse if it ́s from the families of widows and orphans.
♫♫
‐My name is Bias Ramadhan.
My mom was one of the victim
in the Lion Air crash in Indonesia.
Her name is Hasnawati.
‐This is a tragedy, right?
And then the lawsuit is also emotionally draining.
And there ́s almost no one like that, anybody like this
and is not crying.
♫♫
‐After the settlement, Tom Girardi got the money
and it was kind of the same thing
that you heard about Kathy Ruigomez,
where "It ́ll be coming soon, don ́t worry."
But of course, it never showed up.
‐We wait and we wait and we kept sending e‐mail
almost every week.
♫♫
‐I ́m getting chills, just thinking about
what Tom allegedly did
and my sort of initial reaction to that was, "No way."
I initially was like, "No way, not Tom."
Tom is Erika ́s, you know, steadfast, quiet,
81‐year‐old husband.
There ́s no way he could possibly be doing this.
But then the more that I read,
especially about the Lion Air victims.
I was profoundly upset and disgusted.
‐Judge Thomas Durkin, the former federal prosecutor,
was overseeing all of these cases,
and Judge Durkin not only found Tom Girardi in contempt,
he also froze Tom ́s bank accounts
and he froze all the bank accounts
that Girardi Keese oversaw.
That immediately paralyzed the firm,
it paralyzed Tom financially.
Additionally, Judge Durkin referred the case
to federal prosecutors.
Which means that Tom Girardi could be facing
time behind bars.
‐I was a federal prosecutor.
The last thing you want is a referral
to the U. S. Attorney ́s Office.
As an attorney, it is doomsday for you.
It means that you are likely going to be investigated.
‐The Chicago case right off the bat, they name Erika Jayne,
in their lawsuit, ‐One of the lenders owed money
by Tom Girardi claimed in a lawsuit
that Tom had given his wife 20 million dollars
in loans from Girardi Keese.
And that money went to Erika Jayne ́s Entertainment Company,
EJ Global, LLC.
‐He was taking money in some cases, it ́s being alleged,
and investing it into Erika ́s business,
into her career, and the allegations
are that that money was coming from clients.
‐But those documents aren ́t public yet.
So while we ́ve heard about this
and it ́s been repeated in several other lawsuits,
including Edelson ́s lawsuit, we haven ́t seen the proof yet.
‐I think the biggest question that everybody has is,
is she going to be in trouble? Did she know?
I was pretty shocked and pretty saddened by it.
And I felt really bad for these victims
that thought they hit the jackpot with Tom Girardi.
‐We are the victims here, not him, not Tom, not his wife.
It ́s only me and three of my siblings.
So four of us. And that ́s it. We just want to know,
can we get our money and when will we get it?
Whether a month or two months, I don ́t even know it.
Will be next year? I don ́t even ‐‐ We don ́t even know it.
♫♫
‐It ́s my understanding that Tom Girardi is now
under a conservatorship with his brother
taking over control of certain aspects of Tom Girardi ́s life.
‐His defense attorney suggested
that he might have been mentally incompetent.
And that kind of hints at the defense we ́ve seen developing
over the course of the last few months.
There is a psychiatrist in Los Angeles
who has diagnosed him with Alzheimer ́s.
And I think the whole Alzheimer ́s diagnosis
will carry some weight
on whether he can be criminally charged or not.
‐I can ́t comment on whether or not
he ́s actually suffering from dementia
or Alzheimer ́s or some form of diminished capacity.
I just think that it ́s strange that that months earlier
he was speaking at public events
and certainly before the pandemic,
I would see him frequently at events.
And I didn ́t have any sense that he was suffering from any
kind of diminished capacity.
♫♫
‐At the time that Tom Girardi ́s firm Girardi Keese shuts down,
they have approximately 9,000 clients, 900 cases.
What happens to those clients, those cases?
‐The California State Bar filed charges against Tom Girardi
in late March. That is pretty serious.
That ́s the beginning of the disciplinary process
that ́s visible to the public.
♫♫
‐Day late and a dollar short, right?
A day late and a dollar short
when the bar comes and take somebody ́s license away
after there have been allegations for years
and maybe that kind of action should have taken place sooner.
♫♫
‐If you were to ask me in 2019 who would come out
paying whom and this divorce, I ́d probably say
that Erika would be getting a lot of money from Tom.
But at this point, she ́s earning more than Tom is
and she probably has more assets than he does.
So I don ́t know how she ́s going to fare
in the litigation surrounding Tom,
that she could come out on top or she could get dragged in
and end up in a whole lot of debt.
♫♫
‐What do I think, of Erika now?
Um, you know, the whole, like,
empowerment of having an alter ego...
I thought was cool in the beginning.
But now realizing that not only were they spending the money
that came from tragedy,
but Tom was taking money that didn ́t belong to him
and they were parading it around for everyone to see.
It ́s out ‐‐ it ́s outrageous. Doesn ́t look good.
‐This season on "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills."
‐With any of the lawsuits, like, did you have a heads up,
is that why you got divorced? ‐No, I did not.
‐I can ́t believe that Erika puts herself in positions
to be asked those questions.
And I most certainly can ́t believe
that she ́s actually answering them.
‐No one knows the answer but him.
‐Tom had a lot of companies,
Girardi Financial is one of them.
He had Erika Girardi on that company,
Erika ́s name being on one of these businesses,
it would definitely raise questions as to what she knew,
whether she benefited from this,
what she ́s received in that capacity.
I think that the trustees
are going to be looking really hard at this.
And they ́ve hired attorneys, retired law firms,
to dig into Erika Girardi specifically.
‐I ́m dying to know what she did with all her clothes
and her jewelry.
On the show, we see these possessions.
Oh, that handbag is worth $4,000 and this Cartier ring
is worth $170,000.
And oh, those, I know that Chanel thing ́s a classic
and they could go now "Where is all this stuff?"
♫♫
‐Erika Jayne ́s defense is that many of these things
were gifts to her and thus separate property.
I ́m not sure that that, as a legal proposition, wins the day.
And I guess we ́ll see.
‐Tom and Erika,
they ́re stuck together in these bankruptcy proceedings.
A lot of these debts that they owe in bankruptcy proceedings,
they owe together, possibly.
It ́s going to be hard for her to say
that she didn ́t know anything was going on.
‐It ́s complicated, because under the law,
Erika has not been charged with anything.
All of her legal issues are sort of tied around to Tom Girardi.
‐Erika Jayne is still housewives
and he ́s still having cameras follow her around.
If any lawyer is now transcribing
every single episode of "The Real Housewives,"
you know, documenting all of the wealth, all of the property.
It just doesn ́t make a lot of sense to me.
‐People like to see the demise.
They want to see that less glammed‐up face.
They want to see her defend herself.
They want to see her roll around on a bed and cry.
‐Erika Jayne is a very strong woman, I can tell.
And she ́s a warrior and she ́s a bitch.
So am I. It ́s fine to be a bitch.
She knows her mind. She has a lot to say about it.
But my advice to her would be, shut up, sit down, pay attention
to what ́s going on in your case. And don ́t worry about TV.
♫♫
‐I ́m an enigma wrapped in a riddle and cash.
‐I ́ve never seen that first episode.
I don ́t think anyone ́s even sent me a clip of it before.
‐Going from nothing to everything is pretty amazing.
Being broke sucks and being rich is a lot better.
‐Oh. ‐Well.
‐Fun days ahead, for Erika. ‐Yeah.
‐I need therapy now. ‐
‐I ́m serious.
♫♫
‐Girardi said, you know, like we were his favorite clients
and I definitely never wanted to be his favorite client,
you know, but I definitely want to be the client
he never forgets because
he is not going to do this to anybody else.
And he should have never done it to me.
He shouldn ́t have underestimated me.
‐Moms are just unsung heroes of society.
I mean, we know we ́re the ass‐kickers.
we just do it because we love our kids.
I mean, there ́s nothing a mom wouldn ́t do for their child.
♫♫
‐Scars tighten over time.
When I look in the mirror, I see.
Someone has been through a lot surgeries will have to go on
for the rest of my life. I ́ve already accepted it.
I treat it like a challenge at this point.
I trust that my will
could handle anything that gets thrown my way.
So, when I look in the mirror,
I ́m actually not bothered at all.
As far as all worried about the scars, would I hide ́em?
I wear them with pride.
♫♫