'Real Housewife' faces the fallout

this is the moment reality TV fans have been waiting for Real Housewives of Beverly hillstar Erica Jane at long last sitting face to face with former clients of her estranged husband Tom gerardi I am at sort of a loss for what to say because we um have had such a been on the opposite sides of a lot of things yeah so I don't know if there's anything that you'd like to say or ask or well I I don't know who if who you know of of the victims if you know our names um do do you know anything about us not really to be perfectly honest did you see the documentary the housewife and the Hustler I did I watched was a couple years ago so explain to me or remind me what happened to you this just the latest glimpse into the Scandal that rocked The Real Housewives world and took down her legal Titan husband the now disbarred attorney was recently found competent to stand trial on criminal charges that he stole millions of dollars from his clients how you feeling today time are you shoing me yourself our m has revealed that in fact Mr Ji was robbing and stealing from those people who he claim to be Champion what do you have to say to your War cents who accuse stealing their Mone gerardi has pled not guilty and his attorneys tried arguing that the 84-year-old is suffering from dementia and unfit to stand trial gerardi attended those competency hearings allowing former clients to catch a rare public glimpse of the man who once held their trust it's been so many years of turmoil we need to see Justice Done once and for all at in her decision the judge declared gerardi competent to face charges and said in part the timing of defendants reported symptoms is highly suspect giving hundreds more of his former clients the possibility of a trial I'm going to play a little Association Tom ger the devil where is the money that search for justice is at the center of the new Hulu documentary the housewife and the Hustler too the Reckoning a deep dive investigation into the aftermath of the Scandal for him to be involved in something like that in such a massive scheme and then for it to involve a real housewife we couldn't believe it my reaction was oh crap the fans went crazy if we up on social media if you have not read this article run to the LA Times now and read [Music] it you wonder how deep does this go gerardi owned the downtown Los Angeles based gerardi keiss law firm and famously won the real life Aaron Brockovich case which would go on to inspire an Academy awardwinning film starring Julia Roberts pg& has requested that we submit to binding arbitration what's that he and Erica Jane were married for more than 20 years before she filed for divorce hi welcome to my home come on in in her first six seasons on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills her lavish lifestyle with gerardi was often on full display I'm an enigma wrapped in a riddle and cash she often flaunted her wealth in her music too with songs like expensive expensive to be [Applause] [Music] made this but Federal prosecutors now say that lavish lifestyle was funded by lies accusing gerardi of swindling $18 million from his clients last year gerardi was arraigned on two Federal wire fraud indictments in Los Angeles and also in Chicago where he allegedly misappropriated more than3 million in settlement funds intended for relatives of victims in the Lion a 610 crash a Boeing Air Max that went down in Indonesia in 2018 killing everyone on board this man is corrupt and this man is doing everything that is possibly you should not do that case brought up in an episode on the Real Housewives orphans and widows it makes you feel sick did you know any of this no one knows the answer but him the outrage over the Scandal often spilling into reality tv as Erica Jane's castmates questioned what she did or did not know all I think about are victims I don't give a about anybody else but [Music] me Nightline spoke with Erica's castmate garcel bouvet about the impact the first documentary had by giving voice to Gerard's former clients did you see it I did see it what did you think uh it's hard to watch it's unbelievable if uh everything is true it's actual people saying they've been wronged the new Hulu doc focuses on the Fallout of the Scandal on both Jane and gerardi including allegations of how the once legendary attorney was able to get away with what victims say were his crimes for upwards of four decades there had been allegations over the years that he wasn't paying people how had that track with his wife's rise to fame and all the money being spent on her the film traces lawsuits Bar complaints and and client testimony to expose the systematic failures that extended far beyond just one firm just one man okay there I am okay he was powerful because of the relationships that he strategically cultivated relationships to make him look completely Untouchable I would like to see a Justice outside of Tom's RI in recent years Erica Jane has faced her fair share of legal trouble related to the Scandal the Real Housewife sued in several civil law suits including one for $50 million the housewife and the Hustler 2 goes in depth into one of those cases involving Chris Pila the co-owner of fashion house Marco Marco Erica mentioned that she wore a wire in an earlier season at the show I wore a wire and was a witness in a government case w why did she wear a wire did this have anything to do with Tom we found out that it involved Marco Marco Erica came in saying that I had stolen upwards of $800,000 from them I said that that was impossible in my mind it was like well this is obviously joke I was very aware of how powerful she and her husband were and that alone is pretty terrifying Jane's legal team talked exclusively in the documentary saying Erica had the right to go to authorities and give viewers a chance to hear why they say the reality star believes she was defrauded by Pila if you have a basis for it what they call probable cause you're immune the interviews in the film and meeting with victims providing a different View and approach compared to what viewers have seen from Jane on TV so far we're not even sure that there were people that weren't paid no way yeah way right you mean that there's a chance that they could be lying you can allege anything in a lawsuit that's especially true for the victims who finally had a chance to confront the star about those things she had said I just thought what am I going to say to her and then I said I'm not going to say anything I'll listen I think she owes us more than we owe her I mean I know it feels weird with all the mics and lights but I mean we've all had a lot of questions for a long time and nobody was really interested in my side of the story they were interested in bling me she's been given a lot in life as far as a platform she could make the victim's life a living hell still or she could add a little light which one is it going to be it's also catching the attention of Jane's fellow Housewives who have questioned her about the Scandal including castmate Crystal mink appearing on E news season are you gonna watch because she's GNA be with the victims oh I'm watching it oh you're watching it I watch the first and I'm G to watch this one and you can see more of the housewife and the Hustler too now streaming on Hulu hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our Channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching

Channel: ABC News

Views: 143,109

Keywords: Erika, Girardi, Housewife, Hulu, Hustler, Jayne, Real, Reckoning, Tom, abc, abcnews, documentary, entertainment, legal, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-107182357, scandal, Real Housewives, Tom Girardi, Beverly Hills

Id: 78oi7vyB8_0

Length: 9min 17sec (557 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 17 2024