Amid Tom Girardi's ongoing legal woes, his own son-in-law is speaking out against him and accusing him of ignoring his plea to pay the crash victims. New reports show Tom's own family is throwing The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star under the bus.
Things appear to be only getting worse for the powerhouse attorney amid an onslaught of lawsuits he's facing for fraudulent activity. In addition to be sued by Wells Fargo for bank fraud and by his former law firm partner Robert Keese for bad business dealings, Tom is facing a class-action embezzlement lawsuit. The family members of airplane crash victims came together to sue Tom for never paying up on the funds they were owed from their settlement. As a result, the victims came together to sue Tom for not forking over the millions they were to receive. At the same time that Tom was being hit with the lawsuits, his wife of twenty years Erika Jayne filed for divorce. She also sent out a request for spousal support since the couple never had a prenuptial agreement. However, Erika is also being called out in the embezzlement case with accusations she helped Tom spend the money to fund their lavish lifestyle. It's also claimed the couple is faking their divorce in order to get off the hook for all that they owe.
Thomas’ son-in-law David Lira has also been thrust into the mix after he was forced to resign from his new law firm after being named in his father-in-law's $2 million embezzlement cast. Lira had already resigned from his father-in-law's law firm back in June, LA Times reports. But, now he's upset after he was forced to leave his new law firm — Johnston Hutchinson & Lira law firm — due to Edelson PC's lawsuit against Thomas and Erika. The suit accuses the reality star couple of embezzling money from families of victims of a 2018 plane crash in Indonesia. Lira, who is married to Tom's daughter, claims he repeatedly tried to get his father-in-law to pay out the settlement money from the Boeing crash to the Indonesian clients. However, Lira claims Tom continued to ignore him.
“Similar exchanges with increasing intensity followed with the final confrontation on the day Mr. Lira resigned and left the firm,” Lira’s attorney Edith Matthai said. Lira also claims he hasn’t spoken to Tom since June 13 when he quit his job at Girardi Keese offices. In other recent documents obtained by The Blast, Tom is being accused of owing millions to former colleagues and family members. “The debtor is generally not paying such debtor’s debts as they become due,” the December 22 court documents read. Those owed include Thomas’ former partners, Robert Keese, who's owed over $1.5 million, Jill O’Callahan, who says she is owed $757,000, and a family member of one of Tom’s former clients.
If the involuntary bankruptcy petition is approved, all of Tom's creditors will be paid as well as Erika's spousal support request. However, Erika and Tom are still on the hook in the embezzlement where they're accused of having a “sham” divorce after Tom allegedly made a payment of over $20 million to her entertainment company. Tom's assets were all frozen last week.