Erika Jayne and his estranged wife, Thomas Girardithey are accused of trying to plan a Hollywood costume design business out of $787,000 – as Thomas publicly announced that he would give $100,000 of his own money to a client who failed to secure a large settlement for.
According to a new report, the alleged “scheme” involving the The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star began in 2015, when Lawrence Robert Savage IIIhead of the LA office of the US Secret Service, hoping to increase the settlement offer made to him by Volkswagen over the broken brake system in his family’s van.
After being left disappointed by the outcome of the Volkswagen Class Action Settlement, Rob brought Thomas into the case in November 2016 as the Secret Service launched an investigation into Marco Marco regarding unauthorized charges to Erika’s American Express card.
The Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting the president, also has the authority to investigate several types of financial crimes, including credit card fraud.
The Los Angeles Times shared details of both cases, noting that amid concerns over Erika’s growing American Express balance, Thomas agreed to represent Rob and his wife Michelle for free in hopes of securing a large payout.
But while Thomas may have been motivated by the potential outcome of the case, it is also worth noting that he and Rob are reportedly friends for decades. Also, Michelle’s family has known Thomas longer, with both of his siblings interning at Girardi Keese last year.
During a December 2016 court hearing, the judge expressed frustration with Thomas over the Volkswagen case.
“This whole sequence of events is very problematic,” U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. said. “I feel very uneasy about this way of respecting and obeying my orders, and I cannot tolerate it.”
“If the court thinks that I intentionally did something wrong or tried to do something inappropriate, this won’t work, so I will pay $100,000,” Thomas replied.
Although the case was dismissed the next day, Rob said he never received the $100,000 payment from Thomas. Instead, he claims Thomas gave him a check for $7,500, “the exact amount of the Volkswagen Class Action Settlement.”
“My wife and I are happy that we received what we would receive if we stayed in [lawsuit],” he insisted.
Then, the next day, after Erika meets with Rob at his office in downtown LA, the Secret Service is equipped RHOBA cast member with a microphone as he met with Christopher Psailacostume company owner Marco Marco, to discuss what he claims is $800,000 in fraudulent charges.
As the Times explained, Christopher reportedly admitted to “overbilling” of “more than $100,000” at first, blaming the book supplier and saying that he and his friend, a designer. Marco Morante, “take full responsibility and accountability.” However, after Erika said the amount she took was $800,000, Christopher changed his tune, saying he didn’t know “how it happened.”
The next month, in January 2017, Marco Marco was arrested. And four months after that, Christopher, who finally changed his tune in his bookkeeper, was charged with nine counts, including identity theft and wire fraud, because Erika’s American Express account received a refund of about $787,000.
“We couldn’t even understand. It just seemed crazy to us,” Marco recalled the accusation, stating that Erika was not only a customer but a friend (Marco was even featured in an episode of RHOBA).
Throughout his friendship with Erika, Marco designed several outfits for Erika, including those seen in her music videos for songs such as “How Many F-cks” and “XXpen$ive,” and at the peak, Erika made 20 years. for 30 percent of the business. However, when it comes to billing, Erika gives American Express information on her first pass, telling Christopher and Marco that they don’t need an invoice.
Although there was no problem at first, Thomas ended up confronting Erika about her bill.
“Tom came home and said, ‘Your Amex bill is really out of control,'” she recalled in an interview.
So, Erika did some research. And after discovering an unapproved charge for $5,000, she called Christopher and he reportedly agreed to reverse the charges. But additional costs were discovered later, prompting Erika to conduct a more thorough review – and arrange a December 2016 meeting with Rob at the downtown office.
Since Erika did not have all the receipts, a challenge arose. And even though he admitted his guilt, Christopher began to claim that all the charges to Erika’s American Express card were legitimate.
Christopher has also “lost complete faith in the justice system,” giving a nod to the way Thomas apparently swayed the legal system in his favor because of his legal connections (and his friendship with Rob, who retired from the Secret Service in 2018 and insisted that the two cases were “not related, ” which is not revealed in the process).
“That’s what I’m up against, and it’s horrible,” he said.
After Christopher faced with a year behind bars and a business that almost destroyed, prosecutors quietly dropped the case a year and a half ago amid questions about the evidence – and whether or not charges should have ever been filed.
Now, the indictment against him is described as a “scheme” that cost American Express “more than $700,000 in losses,” even though the amount of fraud based on the charges was less than $63,000.
According to the Los Angeles Times, American Express, which returned the money to Erika’s card after being contacted by the Secret Service, did not conduct its own investigation, nor did it ask Christopher and Marco.
In a statement, an American Express spokesperson said they “followed regular processes and procedures during this investigation when we deal with law enforcement … from law enforcement.”
To fight charges unrelated to him, Christopher used the payout from his father’s life insurance policy to hire a veteran criminal defense attorney, who ended up questioning the nature of the case, as well as his motivations.
Stanley Greenberga former federal prosecutor, said it was strange that the Secret Service was taking on a “park-variety fraud case.”
“The Secret Service seems to have an intimate role in all of this and that includes making money [Tom Girardi] and don’t interfere with the questioning of one of the main witnesses,” he said, signaling to Marco. “Everything just reeks of the fact that they did some kind of favor.”
And after Christopher provided evidence that he claimed proved the legitimacy of the 100 disputed charges, Stanley “realized there was no discrepancy” and reached the point where he would not let Christopher plead guilty.
Although Stanley planned to call Thomas and Erika on the stand as witnesses, the subpoenas were quickly met with a call from the prosecutor in the case, who told him the charges were being dismissed.
“They said, ‘We’re just looking into the case,'” he said.
In a statement, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s office in LA addressed the possibility of a mistake on the part of the Secret Service.
“We ultimately determined that law enforcement evidence preservation issues undermined our ability to prosecute the case and that the interests of justice supported dismissal,” the statement said.
But Greenberg said prosecutors never told him about the lack of evidence.
“This is not evidence, because they did a poor job in the first place,” he said.
And after trying to follow Christopher for $ 800,000, despite the return of American Express, Erika learned about the dismissal of the case on Twitter.
“I said, ‘How could you do this to me? I’m at a bad point in my life. …This makes me look like a liar,'” she recalled. “Now my reputation is in the toilet and Tom’s at home … of course, [they are saying] he did this. There’s no reason for me to do this… There’s no way I’m pulling a scam to get $760,000 to help anyone get this money. The truth must be told here. And it’s not a very good story when I pull a rabbit out of a hat for money.
Meanwhile, Christopher has left to pick up the pieces.
“I’m totally a shell of a human being now,” he admitted.
“We were really forced to start from scratch,” added Marco.