Erika Jayne quietly refinanced her $2.2M Hollywood Hills home just weeks before flaunting $800K Old Hollywood-style remodel on RHOBH, as lawyers for Girardi victims call out ‘strategic timing’ amid stalled settlement payouts - suong

Erika Jayne may have unveiled a glamorous Old Hollywood-inspired home renovation on Season 14 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, but behind the satin curtains and custom chandeliers lies a timing decision that is now raising legal eyebrows.

According to newly surfaced court documents reviewed exclusively by DailyMail.com, Erika Jayne refinanced her Hollywood Hills home mere weeks before she began working with celebrity interior designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard on her now-viral home transformation. The paperwork, filed in late 2023, shows that Erika secured a new mortgage on the property valued at just under $2.2 million — a move that her legal counsel claimed at the time was “purely financial housekeeping.” However, lawyers representing victims in the Tom Girardi bankruptcy cases see it differently.

“It’s a red flag, plain and simple,” said a legal representative for one of the settlement funds tied to Girardi’s former clients. “She was aware that multiple settlements were being delayed due to issues tracing assets, and then, out of nowhere, she refinances her home and within weeks begins showcasing a remodel that cost hundreds of thousands. That’s not coincidence — that’s strategy.”

While Erika has never been formally charged in connection with Girardi’s alleged embezzlement, she has been named in multiple civil suits attempting to recoup funds that prosecutors claim were used to fund her luxury lifestyle during her marriage to the disgraced attorney. The timing of this new refinance is now being looked at closely by parties involved in those proceedings.

The Bravo star debuted her redesigned home in May 2025 with a feature in PEOPLE’s Hollywood at Home, calling the space “sexy” and “serene,” and crediting Bullard for bringing her 1920s-inspired vision to life. But legal insiders argue that the optics of flaunting a high-end renovation while victims await compensation could come back to haunt her.

“She has every right to make her home beautiful,” one insider familiar with the case told DailyMail.com, “but when you do it on national television, while your ex-husband’s victims are still waiting for their money, it doesn’t play well in court. Judges notice that.”

According to a breakdown by property records, the refinance provided Erika with a lump sum of approximately $800,000 in cash — funds she has not publicly accounted for. Her attorney has declined to comment on how the money was used but insisted “every financial move made by Ms. Girardi is in full compliance with the law.”

Despite the legal noise, Erika appears unfazed. In a recent episode of RHOBH, she declared, “It’s time to let go of the past,” while tossing out furniture from her former Pasadena mansion. Still, some critics argue that she may be trying too hard to rewrite her story — one throw pillow and custom wallpaper at a time.

Whether the refinance will lead to further legal scrutiny remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: in Erika’s world, the drama doesn’t end when the cameras stop rolling — and neither do the questions.