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Erika Jayne admitted in newly submitted court documents that her attorney and friend, Jim Wilkes, opened and has been funding an out-of-state bank account on her behalf.
As her estranged husband, Thomas Girardi, 86, began serving his seven-year, three-month prison term for charges of fraud against the clients of his now-shuttered law firm, Girardi Keese, the 54-year-old Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star confirmed that Jim, who has been working for her amid the many lawsuits against her, has been depositing money into a Florida bank account.
¨To the best of my recollection, I had one bank account opened for me by my friend and personal attorney Jim Wilkes in the State of Florida. It was opened at the national bank chain Wells Fargo. The account number will be provided if the Court so orders and appropriate confidentiality stipulations are executed prior to its disclosure. To the best of my knowledge, the source of the funds was Jim Wilkes. The purpose of the account was for my personal use. I did not come to Florida to open that account, and I never accessed that account from within Florida,¨ Erika admitted in court documents obtained and shared by Ronald Richards.
According to Ronald, Erika’s admission was part of a series of “damning admissions” and “a long time coming.”
Ronald also stated that the amounts and sources needed to be disclosed, and alleged that the account was actually “funded by Florida residents,” rather than Jim himself.
According to another report shared on July 18 by Page Six, it was noted that the start of Thomas’ prison term had been confirmed by a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and that Thomas turned himself in on Thursday afternoon. Currently, Thomas is in custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Los Angeles and has been registered as an inmate, according to online records.
As RHOBH fans will recall, Thomas was convicted on June 3 after being found guilty of stealing millions in settlement funds from his former clients in September 2024.
In addition to his seven-plus-year prison sentence, Thomas was ordered to pay a $ 35,000 fine and $2.3 million in restitution to his victims.
While Thomas’ attorneys attempted to convince a judge to house Thomas in a long-term care facility, rather than prison, claiming he had been diagnosed with late-onset Alzheimer’s and dementia, a judge found him competent to stand trial last year.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 15 is currently in production.
