Erika Girardi says she’s unable to pay her tax bill, which allegedly amounts to more than $2 million.
In a new declaration filed in Los Angeles County on Tuesday, and obtained by PEOPLE on Thursday, Erika claims she’s unable to front the $2,226,985.77 in California state taxes she allegedly didn’t pay in 2019.
The filing states that Erika, 50, received a notice regarding her tax payments in May 2022.
“I am in the midst of trying to figure out the basis of this tax bill with the assistance of my business manager, who is also an accountant,” the document reads. “I do not have the ability to pay the [California Franchise Tax Board] tax bill.”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star said she didn’t know if the tax board was “claiming any sort of lien” in reference to her $750,000 earrings that were centered in her estranged husband Tom Girardi’s 2020 bankruptcy case.
In January, Erika was asked to turn over the diamond earrings, which were a gift from Tom. The trustee’s court filings obtained by PEOPLE at the time alleged that the earrings were acquired with funding from a client trust at Tom’s law firm, Girardi Keese, and were written off as a tax expense. As such, the trustee requested the earrings be returned and sold in order to pay off Tom’s creditors.
In the recent June 14 filing, Erika stated, “I never worked at the law firm of GK. I never managed the finances of GK. I never had access to or knew anything about how TG or GK managed any of their client trust accounts.”
“At the time, based on everything I knew, TG and our marital community had extensive net worth and TG and GK had very high income. I had no reason to doubt or question the source of funds used by TG to buy the earrings,” she continued. “I never knew or heard anything from anyone to the effect that any of the gifts that TG had given me at any time, including the earrings in 2007, were bought using money that did not belong to TG or that belonged to someone else.”
Erika also outlined her own assets — primarily her income from the Real Housewives franchise — and added a note about her relationship with Tom, 83.
“During our marriage, I believed that TG and GK were financially successful, extremely wealthy, and made large amounts of money,” she stated, adding that Tom and his law firm “handled all of our marital finances” after they wed and that she had “absolutely no involvement in or knowledge” of their actions.
The legal drama surrounding Erika and Tom began when she filed for divorce in November 2020 after 21 years of marriage.
Less than a month later, Erika and Tom were hit with a lawsuit accusing them of embezzling settlement money from families who lost loved ones in a 2018 Boeing plane crash. The lawsuit claimed they used the money to fund their “lavish Beverly Hills lifestyles,” according to previous court documents obtained by PEOPLE.
Erika has also been accused of conspiring with Tom and using her “notoriety” to hide assets as a bankruptcy trustee investigates him and his firm.
Amid the ongoing scandal, Tom was diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and was placed under a temporary conservatorship in February 2021, which was then made permanent months later that July. He is currently living in a “skilled nursing facility,” court documents previously revealed.