Legal troubles continue to rain on Erika Jayne in light of her estranged husband’s alleged embezzlement activities.
The “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star and her company, EJ Global LLC, have been slapped with a $2.1 million lawsuit by attorney Manuel H. Miller and his client Kathleen Bajgrowicz, the mother of late NFL star Chuck Osborne, for allegedly “aiding and abetting” Tom Girardi and his law firm, Girardi & Keese, according to legal documents obtained by Page Six.
The other defendant named in the lawsuit is Girardi’s former law firm associate David Lira.
Filed Thursday, the lawsuit claims the Bravolebrity, 50, “knew about the scheme” in which Girardi allegedly withheld money and that she was aware victims were “funding her notoriously lavish lifestyle.”
Girardi, 82, and Miller had jointly represented Bajgrowicz and “agreed to share the fees” when she sued the NFL over her son Chuck’s 2012 death from repeated head trauma, the suit alleges.
After reaching a settlement with the league, Girardi was meant to distribute the funds to Bajgrowicz and Miller, but they allege in the court documents that the embattled attorney “lulled [them] into believing that the funds could not be distributed to anyone until various issues were first resolved.”
“Unknown to Plaintiffs, Girardi had already taken their money and breached his and the firm’s fiduciary duty to distribute the funds to Plaintiffs,” they claim in the lawsuit.
Miller and Bajgrowicz also claim Jayne and EJ Global knew “Girardi was operating a Ponzi scheme” and had “assisted or encouraged Girardi” because it “benefitted them financially.”
Miller claims to be owed $278,000, and Bajgrowicz is looking for more than $1.8 million.
Jayne denied any wrongdoing in a statement via her attorney, Evan C. Borges.
“The complaint is another misguided effort to blame Erika for the conduct of others in which she had no part. Erika has no law degree and never worked at or managed her former husband’s law firm,” he told Page Six Friday. “Whatever Mr. Girardi or others at his law firm did or said to the plaintiffs in this case, Erika had no knowledge or role in any of it.
“The focus should be on Mr. Girardi, his law firm, and anyone else who enabled what he did,” Borges continued. “Piling on Erika may generate publicity, but it’s without any basis in law or fact.”
This latest lawsuit comes after the reality star received a legal victory last month when she was dismissed from Girardi’s embezzlement and fraud lawsuit in Illinois.