Erika Jayne is accusing attorney Ronald Richards of extortion after he offered The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star a deal if she voluntarily returns the $25 million Tom Girardi allegedly stole. Erika's estranged husband is accused of embezzling millions of dollars from settlement money that was meant to go to victims of a plane crash. Erika claims to have known nothing about her husband's alleged crimes prior to his arrest, but most fans are not buying it. In a recent episode, Erika exploded at Sutton for admitting she doesn't believe Erika is being 100 percent truthful. She promised multiple times that if Sutton kept speaking like that, Tom would come after her with lawsuits. Many fans, and Sutton, found this confusing, as up until now, Erika painted Tom as senile and powerless.
About a month ago, a $25 million lawsuit was officially filed against Erika. The prosecuting attorney, Ronald, offered Erika a deal if she returned the money owed to the victims. He revealed during an interview, that the deal will not last forever, and at that time, she had only 10 days to accept or deny the terms of the deal. In response to Erika's claims that the lawyers involved are only concerned with obtaining their fee, Ronald stated they are willing to give up their fee and give the whole $25 million to the victims if Erika agrees to this deal. He says if she truly cared about helping the victims, she would pay back the money to those who need it the most.
Erika is now calling the terms of Ronald's deal extortion and is calling him out on Twitter. Initially, Ronald tweeted at Erika, reminding her that there are seven days left for her to accept his deal. Erika responded to the tweet, claiming it sounded like extortion to her. Ronald did not take kindly to being accused of extorting the reality TV star. He took to Twitter once again to try and educate her. He said extortion is when someone is given property or gets someone to do something for them either through the use of fear tactics or through other illegal methods. He also said Erika comparing him offering her a deal is nowhere close to the definition of extortion. Ronald added he hoped he would see some compassion from Erika for the victims by offering her this deal and having her accept it.
Not only is Erika accusing Ronald of extortion, but she is also upset with the way he treated her after she filed her most recent appeal. According to Erika, Ronald is poisoning the public's opinion of her by trashing her on social media. She said he is power-hungry and is intimidating her RHOBH co-stars and others who are supporting her by threatening them with investigations. She is likely referring to Ronald going after Lisa Rinna, claiming Erika spent a large amount of money at her daughters' store and invested in her beauty brand. In regards to her accusations and the appeal she filed, Ronald claims Erika's statements are baseless. He says he sees no basis for a legal argument, but that he was fully expecting her to attempt the appeal. He ended his statement by claiming Erika should stop wasting her money on legal fees, and should instead focus on paying the victims back.
With so many questions out there about Erika's alleged guilt or innocence, wouldn't it be easier for Erika to just pay back the money? Erika's social media persona since the legal scandal broke has not given off the vibe that she is sorry for her husband's actions and is saddened for the victims. She hasn't even publicly acknowledged the victims and the struggle their lives have been after not receiving that money. It will be interesting to know what her legal team thinks of RHOBH star lashing out at attorneys from the opposing side on such a public platform.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
Source: Erika Jayne/Twitter, Ronald Richards/Twitter