Erika Jayne's legal battles wage on.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star is being sued by Nicolas Cage's ex-girlfriend, Christina Fulton, for nearly $745,000 over claims of fraud and theft, according to court documents obtained by E! News. The lawsuit was filed on July 15 and also names several former employees of Girardi & Keese, the law firm co-founded by Jayne's estranged husband, Tom Girardi.

Fulton, who shares a son with Cage, alleges in the suit that Girardi and his former colleagues misappropriated her settlement funds—which totaled more than $924,000—to support their personal lifestyles. The payout was awarded in a personal injury dispute following a January 2016 car accident that left Fulton with several injuries. She was represented by Girardi & Keese at the time but is now alleging that she's only received a small portion of the settlement funds from the firm.

Echoing claims in the lawsuit, Fulton's attorney Ronald Richards told E! News in a statement on July 18 that she's thus far "had her settlement check forged, her money stolen within days of deposit, and was kept in the dark until our investigation uncovered what really happened."

"To lure her, she was given small payments by the firm, she was given false status reports both verbally and in writing, and was let down by the three attorneys who represented her in her settlement," Richards said, further discussing the suit. "The money that was stolen from the firm trust account was then used to pay the personal lifestyle expenses of the Girardi's including Erika Girardi through her company EJ Global LLC."

Reiterating the lawsuit's claim that Fulton's settlement check was "forged," Richards added, "the attorneys who worked on our client's case had a duty to make sure funds were in the account when they said they were and had a duty to have their joint client actually sign the settlement check instead of letting someone forge it."

Jayne's attorney, Evan C. Borges, told E! News in a statement that the lawsuit, "similar to other pending claims against Erika, has two fundamental problems."

"First, Erika, a non-lawyer, had no role in the actions of Girardi Keese in dealing with clients of the firm or managing the firm's finances," Borges said on July 18. "Second, Erika reasonably believed...she was married to an extremely wealthy attorney with a financially successful law firm."

Borges continued, "Everyone keeps ignoring the truth, as summarized by Bankruptcy Judge Russell: 'From my standpoint, I accept what she has said. That given the nature of what I know about the case, just strictly from this case, I don't think—to say it's unlikely that she was aware of any of the shenanigans going on would be an understatement.'"

Borges added that Jayne's "lifestyle and persona on a Housewives show are not legally valid reasons to sue her, especially for things she didn't do."

"The focus should be on Girardi Keese," he said, "and, where supported by evidence, the lawyers, accountants, and financiers who enabled the law firm's misconduct."

Jayne's mounting legal issues began in late 2020 after she filed for divorce from Girardi and they were subsequently named in a fraud lawsuit accusing them of embezzling $2 million in settlement funds from plane crash victims. Jayne has since been dismissed from that particular suit—a decision Borges praised while continuing to declare her innocence—but still faces several other troubles including a $50 million racketeering lawsuit. Jayne has continually denied any wrongdoing via Borges and on.

Source:
courtesy of E!ONLINE

by ALLISON CRIST

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