Erika Jayne, one of the members of Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” cast, has been sued by underwear and costume brand Marco Marco’s cofounder Christopher Psaila.
The designer is suing Jayne for her alleged involvement in a fraud scheme in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Tuesday, according to a statement released by Psaila’s attorneys. The $18.2 million lawsuit alleges Jayne, along with her assistants Laia Ribatallada and Michael Minden, as well as American Express employee Peter Grimm, all agreed to conspire against Psaila and prosecute him for alleged wire fraud and identity theft, claiming he defrauded Jayne by charging her American Express card with false charges for custom goods and services in the total amount $800,000 to $900,000. Psaila is suing Jayne for “malicious prosecution and conspiracy,” court papers show.
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According to Psaila’s lawsuit, Jayne gave him full permission to charge the American Express card for designing and creating costumes for her performances, dating back to 2014. The designer and his business partner Marco Morante own a 49 percent stake each in Marco Marco, with the former handling business operations and the latter handling design and creative direction.
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The lawsuit alleges that Jayne and her estranged husband, Tom Girardi, whom she is in the middle of divorcing, bribed Robert Savage, who is the head of the Secret Service in Los Angeles. After the alleged bribe was made, Savage then sent agents Steve Scarince and Kenneth Henderson to criminally investigate Psaila for federal crimes rather than treat it as a credit card dispute.
The lawsuit also alleges American Express was brought into Jayne and Girardi’s fraud scheme and didn’t thoroughly investigate their $800,000 dispute. “Tom Girardi was going bankrupt, and used client settlement funds from his law firm, Girardi Keese, to pay for his and Erika Girardi’s extravagant lifestyle and personal bills,” the lawsuit states. “Thus, both Erika Girardi and Tom Girardi had a compelling reason to illegally claim that Chris Psaila and Marco Marco had defrauded them.”
The charges against Psaila for alleged credit card fraud were dismissed in September 2021, but as stated in the lawsuit, “Chris Psaila suffered extreme emotional distress, financial harm to his business, Marco Marco, and extreme emotional, psychological, and physical injuries as a result of the four and one-half years battle against these illicit charges.”
“Mr. Psaila’s business lost clients, retailers, and employees, resulting in lost profits and goodwill totaling tens of millions of dollars. His younger brother tragically drowned, and the charges impeded his ability to support his father as he was dying of cancer. Mr. Psaila’s father and brother both died while he was falsely accused of serious crimes. Adding to the devastation, Mr. Psaila and his husband were preparing to adopt an infant, but an adoption agency told them they could not proceed because of the pending charges,” says the statement released by the designer’s attorneys.
Accompanying the lawsuit, Psaila also presented a related Federal Tort Claims Act administrative claim against the Secret Service for $75 million.
Marco Marco is set to hold a fashion show during New York Fashion Week as part of Jake Resnicow’s Dreamland in Central Park event. The brand’s online store is on hiatus, and the website says sales will resume in January 2024.
Erika Jayne is currently hosting her “Bet It All on Blonde” residency in Las Vegas, which premiered on Friday and will run through Dec. 16.