Erika Jayne Owes California $2.2 Million In Taxes, But Intends To Keep Her Glam Squad
The last few times we’ve seen The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Erika Jayne Girardi here, she’s been the sad gourd in the center of a cornucopia of bad shit like being sued for “aiding and abetting” her (at some point, ex-) husband, former lawyer Tom Girardi, in embezzling money from plane crash victims’ families and having many of her lavish items (except allegedly that crusty lingerie in Tom’s desk wasn’t hers) sold off to pay her and her Tom’s many creditors. The hits keep coming–and no, her song XXPEN$IVE will never chart. It’s that she now owes over $2.2 million dollars in back taxes. In “can’t stop, won’t stop” news, not only has she claimed that she’s unable to pay the past-due taxes, an episode of RHOBH just aired where she said that she won’t be laying off her $40,000 per month “glam squad.”
According to People, Erika owes the state of California a yacht-load of money and is basically whining, “help me, I’m poor,” in her nasally burp of a voice:
In a new declaration filed in Los Angeles County on Tuesday, and obtained by PEOPLE on Thursday, Erika claims she’s unable to front the $2,226,985.77 in California state taxes she allegedly didn’t pay in 2019. The filing states that Erika, 50, received a notice regarding her tax payments in May 2022.
“I am in the midst of trying to figure out the basis of this tax bill with the assistance of my business manager, who is also an accountant,” the document reads. “I do not have the ability to pay the [California Franchise Tax Board] tax bill.”
In true shady-ass trick form, Tom and Erika would allegedly spend large sums of money on extravagant things and then write them off on their taxes, like a $750,000 pair of earrings:
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star said she didn’t know if the tax board was “claiming any sort of lien” in reference to her $750,000 earrings that were centered in her estranged husband Tom Girardi’s 2020 bankruptcy case.
In January, Erika was asked to turn over the diamond earrings, which were a gift from Tom. The trustee’s court filings obtained by PEOPLE at the time alleged that the earrings were acquired with funding from a client trust at Tom’s law firm, Girardi Keese, and were written off as a tax expense. As such, the trustee requested the earrings be returned and sold in order to pay off Tom’s creditors.
As is her signature move these days, Erika again decided to play the moronic trophy-wife card and says she had no involvement or knowledge of the inner workings of her husband’s business or sources of income.
In the recent June 14 filing, Erika stated, “I never worked at the law firm of GK. I never managed the finances of GK. I never had access to or knew anything about how TG or GK managed any of their client trust accounts.”
“At the time, based on everything I knew, TG and our marital community had extensive net worth and TG and GK had very high income. I had no reason to doubt or question the source of funds used by TG to buy the earrings…I never knew or heard anything from anyone to the effect that any of the gifts that TG had given me at any time, including the earrings in 2007, were bought using money that did not belong to TG or that belonged to someone else…during our marriage, I believed that TG and GK were financially successful, extremely wealthy, and made large amounts of money.”
Despite the terrible optics of being accused of using money owed to plane crash victims’ families, Erika continues to show that the answer to the question of her song “How Many Fucks” really is “none, not one fuck does she give.” Most people in Erika’s predicament would cut their spending in any way possible or at least shut up about it, but a PR person must have been the first item on her chopping block because she just continues to spew stupid shit. But, freeing up around $40,000 per month by letting go of her makeup artist and hair stylist ain’t gonna happen. According to The Daily Mail, Erika said on a recent episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills that she’s already downsized enough.
Erika, 50, defended her financial choices during a trip to Mexico with her fellow housewives, where she had brought along her hair and makeup team. ‘You can downsize and we’ve downsized, right? Certain things you don’t downsize on and that’s your glam,’ she explained in a confessional as shots of her getting her tresses combed back and lips done were shown on screen…interspersed throughout her admission, shots of her blonde extensions, various jewelry, and cases of makeup were shown.
Here’s one of her lewks from the Mexico trip that she couldn’t manage to put together herself:
Erika’s big, dumb, audacious mouth didn’t stop there. In the reach of the century, she then compared her plight of a single wealthy woman in the crosshairs of the law still continuing to spend lavishly to…people who choose to have large families:
‘Fashion, hair, makeup – to me, it’s art. Living art, and I enjoy that. And it shouldn’t be judged any other way. Nobody judges if people wanna have big families. I wanna buy a bunch of clothes.’
The plane crash embezzlement case is still grinding on with no real indicator of an end in sight, so who knows if the victims’ families will ever get the money that they’re owed as Erika continues to toss out verbal middle fingers to them while sipping on the good shit from Baccarat crystal. However, if I know one thing about the American justice system, the government is always going to get their money, honey, so those taxes will get paid one way or another–even if they have to pry last season’s (“See! Savings!”) Balenciaga from the cold, dead jazz hands of Erika’s “YASS kween-er”/”creative director” (who I’m sure will also stay on the payroll) Mikey Minden.
Pic: INSTARImages