Erika Jayne's Attorney Files to Withdraw Representation Following Hulu Documentary
Erika Girardi's attorneys have filed to withdraw from representing the Real Housewives of Beverly [...]
Erika Girardi's attorneys have filed to withdraw from representing the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star following the Monday release of Hulu's new documentary, The Housewife and the Hustler, digging into her legal issues alongside estranged husband Tom Girardi. The reality personality, who also goes by the musical alter ego Erika Jayne, was notified Monday that Dinsmore & Shohl LLP, the law firm representing her in Tom's Chapter 7 Bankruptcy case, would file to withdraw as her counsel, PEOPLE reports, and the paperwork was filed Tuesday.
"The relationship of trust and confidence that is essential to a properly functioning attorney-client relationship has broken down and, in the good faith assessment of counsel, the relationship is irreparable," the lawyers wrote in the filing, which was made public just one day after Hulu's documentary was released. The attorneys added they advised Erika to seek new representation and warned her of "the potential consequences of not timely securing replacement counsel."
Erika, 49, filed for divorce from her high-powered attorney husband, 82, after 20 years of marriage in November, and a month later, both Girardis were sued for allegedly embezzling settlement funds intended for the victims of families killed in the Lion Air Flight 610 in 2018. Tom has since been diagnosed with dementia and late-onset Alzheimer's disease amid the ongoing court proceedings.
In The Housewife and the Hustler, Erika's possible involvement in the alleged embezzlement is called into question by a number of legal experts, including Law360's features reporter Brandon Lowrey, who pointed out that the "XXPEN$IVE" singer was listed on one of her husband's LLCs as his secretary. That raises questions about what she knew about her husband's alleged embezzlement, Lowrey said, despite the fact she has not been legally charged with a crime.
"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," he explained of the legal situation facing Erika currently. "It's going to be hard for her to say to she didn't know that anything was going on." The Housewife and the Hustler is streaming now on Hulu.