EXCLUSIVE: Erika Jayne's Divorce Nightmare — TV Star, 54, Was 'Instructed' to Split with Tom Girardi, 86, to 'Protect' Herself from 'Criminal Prosecution' After He 'Stole' Millions from Clients

Erika Jayne was "instructed" to file for divorce from husband Tom Girardi, as part of an alleged scheme to shield her from the fallout of his criminal embezzlement charges, RadarOnline.com can report.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star allegedly ditched Girardi to keep his money and maintain her lavish lifestyle.

Jayne and her longtime friend and attorney, James Wilkes, are each facing separate lawsuits from a pair of fashion designers who say they were pawns in a fraud scheme that nearly landed them in prison, after Jayne and Girardi accused them of charging over $800K on her American Express card between 2014 and 2016.

As part of their lawsuit against Wilkes, designer Christopher Psaila alleges Wilkes was the "mastermind of a conspiracy" to protect Jayne, and that included dumping her hubby.

According to the complaint, which refers to Girardi and Jayne by their initials, "Wilkes urged TG and EJ to separate and to devise a story that would protect EJ from financial ruin or even criminal prosecution in the event that TG could not extract himself from the many lawsuits filed against TG.

"Thus, taking Wilkes' advice, EJ filed for divorce on November 3, 2020, just six weeks before creditors filed their involuntary petition that put Tom Girardi and Girardi Keese into Chapter 7 Bankruptcy proceedings."

Wilkes is also accused of helping Jayne hide her husband's money before he went to prison, and allegedly stole millions of dollars in COVID relief funds, which he funneled to her.

According to the federal lawsuit, which RadarOnline.com has obtained from Exhibitalist, "the source of the funds that Wilkes used to pay, invest in, or loan Erika Jayne and her team, and to pay attorneys to defend Erika Jayne and team in other lawsuits, were two Covid loans from the Paycheck Protection Program ('PPP Loans') in the amounts of $2,393,079 and $2,000,000.

"The U.S. Small Business Administration forgave both of these loans, which were meant for salaries for employees who would otherwise be laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic."

To score the big payout, Wilkes allegedly lied about how many employees were on payroll, and falsely "represented to the PPP that his firm had 40 full-time positions more than it actually had."

As RadarOnline.com has previously reported, Psaila’s Marco Marco fashion house was raided by federal agents on January 11, 2017, in connection with the allegedly fraudulent charges.

The case against Psaila was ultimately dismissed in September 2021 – roughly five years after he was first indicted, but he argued he lost out on profits totaling “tens of millions of dollars” due to Jayne’s fraud allegations and the subsequent indictment against him.