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Bethenny Frankel claims she’s known about Tom Girardi’s financial woes for years as he allegedly owed her late ex, Dennis Shields, $500,000.
The former “Real Housewives of New York City” star, 50, said during the latest episode of her “Just B With Bethenny Frankel” podcast on Thursday, she met the disgraced lawyer, 82, at a lawyers conference a few years ago.
Frankel claimed she talked to Girardi at the time about how his then-wife, Erika Jayne, was flaunting their wealth on “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” bragging about everything from the $50,000 she’d spend on glam to owning two private planes.
“My experience is, especially with the ‘Housewives’ … if someone’s flaunting their money, they don’t really have it,” Frankel said.
After that meeting, Frankel claimed Shields told her that Girardi owed him money.
“He owes me half a million dollars,” Bethenny claimed Shields told her. “I know this other guy he owes a million and a half dollars. He doesn’t have money. He owes everybody money.”
Frankel said she was confused about how Jayne, 50, could fly around on private jets, to which Shields allegedly responded, “It’s because he’s using people’s money to support her lifestyle. He’s using the company’s money to support her lifestyle.”
Per Frankel, Shields also allegedly said that Girardi’s debt “aggravates everybody,” adding that the then-powerhouse lawyer couldn’t “say no” to Jayne.
Frankel claimed she discovered in May 2018 that Girardi’s financial issues were the “worst-kept secret” in the Los Angeles lawyers’ circles, adding, “It was a thing.”
“That’s just what happens – things take a long time to come out,” she said. “They all knew about it.”
Frankel went on to claim that she notified Andy Cohen about Girardi and Jayne’s finances shortly after her discovery. However, it wasn’t until the news broke that the Bravo head allegedly told Frankel, “Holy s–t. You really do know it all. You told me about this years ago.”
“I knew about this since 2017 … and this all came out in 2020,” she added.
Girardi’s now-disgraced firm, Girardi Keese, owes over $101 million in debt. Last November, he was sued by a class-action law firm on behalf of Lion Air Flight 610 victims who alleged he and his soon-to-be ex wife had embezzled money through their “sham” divorce.
In August, Jayne was sued for $25 million by the trustee handling the bankruptcy case of Girardi’s former law firm. She has been accused of spending the millions — allegedly given to her company, EJ Global LLC, from Girardi Keese — on her American Express bill, assistants and a glam squad, among other expenses.
In February, a judge named Girardi’s brother, Robert Girardi, the laywer’s conservator after it was found that attorney had been allegedly suffering from short-term memory loss.
Attorneys for Jayne and Robert did not immediately return Page Six’s request for comment on Frankel’s claims.
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