Erika Girardi, also known as Erika Jayne and wife of the disbarred and indicted plaintiffs’ lawyer Thomas Girardi, along with American Express and the Secret Service, have been accused in recent litigation of conspiring to ruin a Hollywood costumer by falsely accusing him of committing wire fraud. Bloomberg Law reports that the lawsuit was lodged in Los Angeles federal court and alleges that Christopher Psaila, owner of Marcosquared LLC, was falsely accused by Erika Girardi of fraudulently charging between $800,000 and $900,000 for costumes.
The lawsuit asserts that these charges on an American Express card issued by law firm Girardi Keese to Erika Girardi were only questioned after November or December 2016, “at a time when her husband and his law firm were in dire financial straits.” Psaila’s suit maintains that despite her accepting costumes “designed, created, made, and provided for her performances” from 2015 and 2016 that appeared on the TV show, the transactions were misleadingly reported as unauthorized by Girardi and AmEx to the Secret Service.
The suit further claims that American Express failed to conduct a “fair or reasonable investigation” before refunding the Girardis $787,118. It accuses Erika Girardi of “weaponizing” the Secret Service to prosecute Psaila maliciously and implicates two agents in the suit, suggesting her husband, Thomas Girardi, was acquainted with Robert Savage, the head of the Secret Service in Los Angeles. An AmEx bank investigator, Erika Girardi’s assistant, and her creative director are also named in the lawsuit.
While denying these allegations, American Express responded that they had only cooperated with law enforcement inquiries and had not instigated the investigation. A request for comment from Erika Girardi’s lawyer was not immediately answered. Spokesperson Alexi Worley noted that as part of longstanding policy, the Secret Service does not discuss pending or proposed litigation.
This latest litigation seeking at least $18.2 million in general damages, along with undisclosed punitive damages, is part of a larger legal quagmire involving the Girardis. Thomas Girardi is currently defending federal fraud charges in Chicago and Los Angeles. His law firm, Girardi Keese, was forced into involuntary bankruptcy in December 2020, and the bankruptcy trustee has sued both Erika Girardi and American Express in attempts to recoup allegedly fraudulent fund transfers from the firm.