August 15, 2025 • 43 mins
You never really know someone…especially online. In today’s world, the power of influence can be the quickest path to money and fame, and it often ends in ruin. These are the stories of the world’s most insidious Scamfluencers. And we are their prey. On Wondery’s new weekly series, join co-hosts Scaachi Koul and Sarah Hagi as they unpack epic stories of deception from the worlds of social media, fashion, finance, health, and wellness. These influencers claim to be everything from charismatic healers to trusted financial insiders to experts in dating. They cast spells over millions. Why do we believe them, and how does our culture allow them to thrive? From Black Swan Murder to a fake social media influencer to an audacious Hollywood Ponzi schemer, each season will take the listener along the twists and turns, the impact on victims, and what’s left when the facade falls away.Listen on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts: http://wondery.fm/scamfluencersWondery+ members can listen to Scamfluencers early & ad-free right now. Unlock your FREE trial of Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify by clicking the links below.Happy listening!Wondery+ on Wondery : wondery.app.link/yQDXFZidtObWondery+ on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/channel/wondery/id6442475667Wondery+ on Spotify: wondery.app.link/bY67EFodtObSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, listeners, this is Thorty from Flesh and Code. I
want to say a massive thank you to everyone who
joined us on this journey with Travis. Your responses to
his story and the conversations that sparked about connection in
the digital age have blown us away. Even though Flesh
and Code has now wrapped, I've been thinking about all
the other ways that people can be vulnerable to manipulation
(00:23):
in our digital world. That's why I'm excited to introduce
you to Scamfluencers, a weekly series that uncovers the dark
side of influence in the digital age. Posted by Sachi
Cole and Sarah Hagy, each episode exposes how charismatic personalities
online can exploit our deepest desires, whether it's for love, wellness, wealth,
(00:46):
or belonging. If you've been fascinated by how technology can
be used to manipulate human connection in Flesh and Code,
then you'll be captivated by these stories of digital deception
and the real world consequences, and the facade falls away.
I'm about to play you an episode of Scamfluences, so
stay tuned while you're listening. Follow Scamfluences on the Wondery
(01:08):
app oh wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Wonder, Sachi, what would you name your pop star alter ego?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Pig bitch.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Honestly, I knew it was going to be something gross.
I was expecting, like but lover, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Yeah, I don't know why you asked me.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
It's because in the story I'm about to tell you,
a housewife transforms into a pop star named Erica Jane
and Sachi. I know you might think you know the story,
but she is really just the smallest piece of it.
It's a sunny southern California day sometime around twenty fifteen
(01:57):
or early twenty sixteen. Lisa Van Pomp and her husband
are being chauffeured in their black SUV up the driveway
of an enormous Pasadena mansion. As Lisa climbs the stone steps,
a camera crew follows behind. Lisa is a brunette who
wears a chic black cocktail dress with oversized diamond encrusted bracelets.
(02:17):
She's a wealthy restauranteur and the matriarch of the Real.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
She's here to meet the show's newest castmate, Erica and
her husband Tom Girardi. Erica opens the front door, wearing
a black mini dress that's conservative yet sexy. She's a
pop star and she has platinum and I mean platinum
blonde hair. Erica pours them all wine and takes Lisa
(02:43):
and her husband on a tour of her home. It's ostentatious,
even by Real Housewives standards. It's a ten thousand square
foot mansion built in nineteen twenty eight. The interior has
lots of chandeliers and Brownie Gold textiles, and it sits
on two acres of land. The garden designed by the
same firm that planned Central Park their first stop. The
(03:05):
library has fireplaces at either end of the room. Sexy
portraits of Erica hang over each one. The tour continues
with Erica showing off a small, high ceilinged room with
frescoes and carved crosses. Yes, Sachi, it is a chapel.
On the show, Lisa's visibly surprised and has questions about.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
It because you know, I'm a spiritual person.
Speaker 6 (03:29):
I wanted to do you put this in?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yes, I did.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
God, the dumb shit rich people buy with their riches,
I know.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And I also know you do remember this, and it
was crazy to witness on TV.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Imprinted in the underside of my eyelids.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
While Erica has had several number one singles on Billboard's
Dance Club chart, but she didn't pay for this mansion.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Her husband Tom did.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
He's a legendary Los Angeles attorney known for defending the
little guy against big corporation. His claim to fame is
that he helped Aaron Brockovich in the case that was
turned into the Julia Roberts movie. Tom's mostly quiet during
this visit with Lisa vander Pump, but the luxury on
display in his home seems at odds with the type
of do good or legal work that built his towering reputation,
(04:17):
because it turns out Tom's career helping others seems to
be about helping himself. For years, He's been accused of
stealing from his clients, people like burn victims and orphans,
and now that his and Erica's opulent lifestyle is being televised,
it's about to come under the microscope, and when it does,
it'll tank Tom's reputation and fuel one of the biggest
(04:39):
scandals in housewives history.
Speaker 6 (04:45):
Listeners, if you can't wait to find out what happens
to Travis and Lilly Rose, Well, you don't have to.
With Wondry Plus, you can binge the entire series right
now and add free start your free trial in the
Wondery app or on Apple pok.
Speaker 7 (05:00):
I'm John Robbins and joining me on how do You Cope?
This Week is the musician, writer and presenter Jordan Stephens.
Speaker 8 (05:07):
I think, honestly, before that point, I might have been
lying a little bit in therapy. I might not really
been understanding what it was that I could do in there.
I definitely didn't think it was a safe space because
I didn't tell my therapists what I've done.
Speaker 7 (05:18):
So that's how do you Cope? With me? John Robbins,
find us wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
From Wondering.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I'm Sarah Haggey and I'm Slatchy Cool and this is
scampo Answers Legend. Tom Girardi had a reputation as the
heroic lawyer getting justice for the underdogs, and Erica Girardi
was the globe trotting pop star. But behind that shiny
(05:52):
facade was a dark reality. For this lion of California
law and his fabulous famous housewife. Things are about to
get all too real. This is episode one of a
two part series I'm calling it The Powerbroker and The
pop Stard. Dutch Tom's legal aspirations date back at least
(06:18):
to nineteen fifty seven. It's the year he graduates high
school in Los Angeles and starts attending Loyola Marymount University
with the goal of going to law school. He's eighteen
years old, handsome and clean cut, sporting close cropped hair.
Tom wants to follow in the footsteps of his hero,
fictional lawyer Perry Mason. Perry Mason is a legal drama
(06:40):
set in Los Angeles, and in it, defense attorney Perry
Mason takes on difficult cases, always sticking up for the underdog.
He's exactly the type of guy Tom aspires to be.
Here's what Tom tells the International Association of Top Professionals
years later.
Speaker 9 (06:57):
I watched that show for two decades. I thought man
to ever be like Perry would really be great.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
After undergrad Tom graduates from law school and starts out
as a trial lawyer. Think slip and falls, car accidents,
and medical malpractice. Then in nineteen sixty five, he starts
a firm with an attorney named Robert Keith. They call
it Girardi and Keys. About five years later, Tom wins
a one point four million dollar verdict, the biggest malpractice
(07:28):
decision in California at the time. He's also getting chummy
with politicians like Jerry Brown. He works to get him
elected governor of California in nineteen seventy five, and later
brags about influencing him to make judicial appointments. When asked
about this claim, a spokesperson for Brown told The La
Times that Tom was quote just one of hundreds who
(07:48):
offered an opinion on judicial candidates.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
You know, I thought I knew a lot about Tom Girardi,
but I didn't know how much political capital he used
to have.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Whee, this is just the beginning.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Over time, Tom starts to focus on toxic torts lawsuits
where victims alleged damage from chemicals and pollutants. Years later,
Tom talked about that transition in an interview with the
International Association of Top Professionals.
Speaker 9 (08:18):
You know, when I was a baby lawyer, none of
my cases had a moral aspect to them. The ladies
slipped and fell in the ice cream at.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
The drug store.
Speaker 9 (08:26):
They didn't wander to slip and fall. Now, in almost
all these cases there's a moral aspect.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
One of the most high profile examples of these cases
comes in the early nineties when Tom represents more than
six hundred Lockheed employees. The employees alleged they were exposed
to toxic chemicals while building stealth bombers. In one of
the jury cases, representing thirty eight of the workers, Tom
wins a three hundred and eighty million dollar verdict. That's
(08:54):
a huge payout for the victims and for Tom's firm.
Thanks to massive wins like this one, Tom's living an increasingly.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Big budget lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
He's become Why Your Friends to the World series in
a private jet type rich. He spent decades building a
reputation as the best in his field, and it's this
reputation that leads a young single mom to ask for
his help with the case of a lifetime. It's a
(09:25):
Spring of nineteen ninety three. I imagine Aaron Brockovich is
sitting in a bougie conference room with Tom Gerbardi. Aaron
is a legal clerk, and she's disarming and direct. She's beautiful,
with big blonde hair, big jewelry, and by her own description,
big boobs. Beside her is her boss ed Mazriy, who
(09:45):
is in his sixties with big glasses and.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
A pretty good head of hair himself.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
He runs a small law firm in Westlake, Village just
north of Los Angeles. Aaron and Ed are here to
talk to Tom about a case they need help with.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Saji. What do you know about the very famous Aaron
Brockovic case.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Oh, I have seen the movie Aaron Brockovich A lot.
I can probably recite the two different number monologue she gives,
the one that she gives to Aaron Eckhart and then
the one that she does later with the phone numbers.
Very important, very formative.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I have her phone number. You want her number two?
I'll tell you everything. I love her. I love her well.
For those who don't know, the gist of it is this.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
In the fifties and sixties, Pacific Gas an Electric Company
or PG and E, dumped hundreds of millions of gallons
of chromium tainted water into unlined holding ponds. The contamination
leaked into the water supply of a California town called Hinkley.
In the following decades, residents started getting cancer and other
health issues. They think that chromium in their water is
(10:55):
making them sick. Ed and Aaron know they have a
big case. As more plaintiffs join, it gets overwhelming. They
need a legal heavyweight on their team. By this point,
Tom hassued insurance companies and oil and chemical companies, and
after hearing about this PG and E case, he joins
the team. Tom and his firm start working on the case,
(11:17):
interviewing plaintiffs, gathering documentation, and negotiating with PG and E,
and in nineteen ninety six, three years after Gerardi became involved,
they forced PG and E to settle for three hundred
and thirty three million dollars. Aaron talked about Tom's role
in the case in an interview decades later.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
You know, I just certainly didn't do Ankley alone.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Had the law firms not come together and the people
and all of us in sinc it wouldn't have turned
out this way.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Tom's career is cruising, but his personal life has hit
the skids. He's headed for a messy divorce from his
second wife, but soon a new romantic match is about
to rock his world. It's a late nineties, about two
years after the PG and E settlement. Erica Chahoi is
(12:11):
in her late twenties. She's working as a cocktail waitress
in La while trying to make it as an actor.
She's a natural beauty with blonde hair and skin as
smooth as a Nutrigena commercial Sachi. Just so you know,
a lot of our details about Erica's life at this
time come from her memoir Pretty Mess. We reached out
to Erica's lawyer and he did not respond to the
(12:33):
request for comment. In her memoir, Erica writes that she
grew up in Georgia. After graduating, she moved to New
York to chase her dreams. She booked some roles like
playing the very first character.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
To die on Law and Order. Gotta give it to her.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, this is one of the most iconic things a
housewife has ever done, a person has ever done, being
the first corpse.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
And while in New York, Erica got married and had
a son. She and her husband divorced about eighteen months later.
Erica writes in her book that she saw this as
the push she needed to head to Hollywood. She left
her son behind with his dad, and now she's in
La working at a restaurant called Chasin's. It just so
happens to have a powerful investor and patron named Tom Girardi.
(13:20):
Tom's around sixty at this time, and he's often at
Chasin's upstairs club, holding court with other lawyers, journalists, and politicians.
People he hopes to get on his side, and he
catches Erica's eye. Here's how she describes the attraction in
the audiobook of Pretty Mess.
Speaker 5 (13:37):
When he spoke, he made me feel like I was
the only person in the room. Heck, he made me
feel like I was the only person in the world.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
It was inspirational, well, Erica says, she makes the first move.
She slips Tom her number.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Things progress quickly, and just a few months later, Erica
moves into Tom's mansion. He suggests she quit her job,
and she agrees. On her last shift, she dramatically dumps
her uniform in the garbage bin, which is about to
put her acting ambitions on hold to be Tom's wife,
but Tom's about to bring her into the celebrity spotlight.
(14:17):
In January two thousand, about two years after they meet,
Erica gets a call from Tom, who is now her fiance.
Erica writes in her memoir that Tom's calling with exciting news.
He says that his friend, Judge Paul Flynn can marry
them that day. Judge Flynn is just one of Tom's
many friends slash colleagues. He actually oversaw Snoop Dogg's nineteen
(14:40):
ninety five murder trial. Snoop, by the way, was acquitted.
Since both Tom and Erica have previously been married, they
want to keep the ceremony low key. Erica goes to
the Gucci store and picks out a long, silvery satin dress.
When they arrive at the Los Angeles Country Club, Judge
Flynn walks off the green all and puts on a
(15:01):
robe over his golf clothes. One of the witnesses is
Tom's best friend, Robert Baker. Robert unsuccessfully defended oj Simpson
in a wrongful death civil suit. Tom and Erica are
married in a small reading room at the Los Angeles
Country Club. Then they hop on their jet and fly
to Las Vegas to have dinner at their favorite restaurant.
(15:23):
And they never sign a prenup. Here's Erica explaining why
in her audiobook.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
Mister Girardi knows the law so well that a prenup
is not going to do shit. As any lawyer will
tell you, there is always a way around a prenup,
even if you think it's ironclad. Tom was going to
protect himself no matter what. And what did I need
to protect? The little red convertible and trash bags full
of clothes I rolled up with.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Woof. When you think about like the financial burdens that
people put themselves through in order to get married, it
is crazy.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
That we do it.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
You're like, hey, I like you so much. I want
to care all your debt forever.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
I also would like to say she's doing a great
job reading this audiobook. You feel like she's talking to you.
I'm like, yeah, I guess that's true.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
I'm convinced.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
I don't know Sarah. I think she's getting really bad
legal advice from her husband, who would be pretty conflicted.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Well regardless, Tom is making a commitment to Erica, but
in the end, he's in charge. As Erica explains on
one of her first episodes of Real Housewives.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
Tom is always the boss. As a matter of fact,
in my cell phone it comes up the boss.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
The boss is calling.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Surrounded by powerful friends in exclusive places.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
He must feel like he's untouchable. It helps to have.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Judges on call for big personal moments like this and
for when Tom needs serious professional favors because in the background,
some less than ethical behavior is starting to come to light.
A couple of months after Tom and Erica get married,
(17:04):
reporter Kathleen Sharp is following a major lead. She has
light brown, shaggy hair and bangs. She gives off serious
journalist vibes. Kathleen's been talking to former plaintiffs in the
PG and E case, and she discovers that the case
never went to trial. It started in open court, but
when the judge assigned to the case retired, Tom told
(17:26):
the victims that it could take five more years to
get a new trial date, so Tom convinced them to
voluntarily enter arbitration. That's where private judges mediate between the
two sides in order to reach a settlement. At this time,
Tom is still taking on cases where he can flex
his trial litigation skills, but the arbitration approach has upsides
(17:48):
like control. The process does have quicker settlement times, but
arbitration isn't monitored by the government, and judges are incentivized
to keep the lawyers happy so they'll be hired again.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
This shifts the power into.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
The hands of the lawyers and away from the victims
they're representing.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
This sounds gross. I love to hear how the legal
system can be perverted at every turn.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And there's also a major lack of transparency in private arbitration.
The findings aren't made public, so pgn's role and any
scientific evidence uncovered in the case is unknown.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
That means a.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Huge public safety issue like water contamination is essentially decided
in secret by corporations and attorneys like Tom, who represents
the victims, who often don't understand how the legal system works.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I feel safe.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
I feel super super safe. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
And Kathleen the reporter also uncovers that Tom had personal
ties to some of the private judges involved. One even
officiated his second wedding, the one right before he married Erica.
Side note, we reached out to Tom through his lawyer
and did not hear back. After the case wraps, Tom
took some of the judge on a Mediterranean cruise, which
(19:02):
the judges eventually repaid him for. Here's Kathleen describing it
to CNBC's American Creed.
Speaker 10 (19:08):
There would be butlered waiters with silver trays full of champagne,
or bikini clad ladies frolicking on the sun drenched decks.
It gave decanance a bad name.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
One of the plaintiffs in the PG and E case
is a woman named Carol Smith. She tells Kathleen she
has questions about how the PG and E settlement money
was distributed. Payout supposedly varied based on the medical records
of the residents, but Carol says that no one ever
asked for hers, and she doesn't understand why her husband,
who had seventeen tumors removed, got less money than people
(19:45):
with similar or less serious health issues.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Carol tells Kathleen.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
About other red flags, like that Girardi Keys allegedly deducted
ten million dollars in expenses but never explained where that
money went, and some of the victims who are miners,
were allegedly charged way more than California's.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Limit of legal fees.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Tom's clients are starting to doubt his reputation as a
champion of justice, but Tom's ability to create his own
myth is about to get supercharged by a star making
turn in Hollywood, and.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
I Feel Like a Legend.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Aaron Brockovich is released in movie theaters in March two thousand.
It's directed by Steven Soderberg and stars Julia Roberts and
immediately has Oscar buzz. Tom Girardi was already wildly successful
before the movie comes out, but afterward it put his
firm on the map like never before. The movie is
(20:51):
based on the huge case Tom helped the real life
Aaron win against PG and E. There's no character named
Tom Girardi in the movie. One character is a composite
of him and several other LA lawyers, but Tom's name
does appear during the end credits under special thanks. In interviews,
he says he's on set every day acting as a
(21:12):
consultant and he loves it. Later, he tells a reporter
about a time he was having dinner with Bill Clinton
when Julia Roberts walked over to talk to him because
of their time together on set.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
What a lame brag. I like Julia Roberts too, but
you're not gonna catch me on here saying things like that.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
You know what, I say the same thing.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
But if you say HI to me before a former president,
I will tell.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
People, Yeah, you know what, You're right.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
I'm on board now I'm on Tom Gardy's side.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Well, obviously, Tom is loving all of the publicity, and
a month after the movie comes out, he gets even more,
and this time.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
It's not so positive.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Kathleen publishes another side of the peace case. Her article
runs on slate dot Com with the headline Aaron Brockovich
the Real Story. In it, she writes about the pitfalls
of private arbitration and exposes how Tom took some of
the judges on a Mediterranean cruise. According to her reporting,
the crews inspired a study into private arbitration. It's led
(22:21):
by the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, Ron George.
He recommends that arbitrares disclose their relationships with lawyers whose
cases come before them and not accept gifts. But the
Aaron Brockovich movie overshadows Kathleen's reporting. It cements Tom's reputation
as a heroic lawyer. Kathleen can probably only watch in
(22:42):
frustration as Tom leans harder.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Into a celebrity image.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
By two thousand and one, he's reportedly taking in more
than a quarter of a million dollars every month. His
firm expands into a second building on Wilshire Boulevard near
downtown LA but despite how long it's grown, the firm
doesn't offer its legal staff the chance to make partner.
Tom owns one hundred percent of the corporation. It's an
(23:08):
unusual arrangement and it gives him unchecked power over the
company and its finances. Even still, new lawyers are clamoring
for jobs at the famous firm Girardi Keys has a
great reputation and its lawyers get deep expense accounts to
take clients to games at the Staples Center. Tom even
pays for lawyers luxury cars and a tailor for their
(23:31):
suits and shirts. He's come a long way since he
was a college kid idolizing Perry Mason, and Erica is
there by his side, enjoying his life of luxury. But
her ambition is fighting to come out, and when it does,
it'll make everything so much more complicated. It's around two
(23:55):
thousand and eight and Erica Girardi is taking the stage
at the Nymphomaniacs Ball in San Francisco.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
It's a sex party.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Held at a huge old theater turned to nightclub called
Pleasure Zone. The spotlight reflects off the rhinestones on Erica's
blue catsuit. It was made by a designer who's created
looks for Britney Spears, Rue.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Paul and Michael Jackson.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Erica's music career is just starting out, and this is
her first gig. The NINFO Maniac Ball is most definitely
not a charity board event, but Erica writes that it's
not a big scandalous orgy like she imagined. It's mostly
couples making out. At this time, she's around thirty five
and has spent eight years being Tom's number one fan,
(24:40):
and now she's ready for some fans of her own.
Here she is talking about it in her Ted Talk
years later, Yes you heard that heard Ted Talk.
Speaker 5 (24:50):
I was hiding. I was hiding behind my husband, Tom,
a very successful lawyer, and as Tom's wife, I had
become Erica Girardi. And I never want wanted to say
anything disagreeable, and I never wanted to make waves.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
So Erica turns to her first love, performing. She was
introduced to a songwriter who penned songs for Madonna, Stevie Nicks,
and Britney Spears, and he helped Erica develop an alter ego,
Erica Jane. Erica Jane is different from Missus Girardi, the
picture perfect housewife. She's a vixen, powerful and unapologetic. Erica
(25:28):
describes her return to performing in her memoir pretty mess.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Can you read this excerpt, Sachi.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
Yeah, it says, without my project, I would have been
relegated to a life of shopping, sitting on a few
charity boards of no consequence, and standing silently by my
husband's side, full of unrealized potential.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Oh that's sad if.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
She's already thinking about like legacy and potential. Like God,
she did not help herself at all. She had all
of that money and like the best thing she could
think to do with it was like, I'll make myself
Madonna well.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
When she releases her first single, Rollercoaster, that same year,
it hits number one on Billboard's US Dance Club charts.
She follows that up with eight more number one tracks,
including One Hot Pleasure, Party, People.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Ignite the World, and Painkiller.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
According to Erica, Tom is incredibly supportive of her career,
including financially, and Tom loves to show her off. One time,
when hosting an event for the Italian American Lawyers Association,
he makes the entire group watch Erica's latest music video,
One Hot Pleasure.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
I love that this.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
Video is both so weird and so vasilene covered, but
also that Tom is making a bunch of.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Lawyers watch it. Yeah, it's like he doesn't have to
do that.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
He really is like, hey, I all right, time to
watch the video of my wife doing this. What are
you showing a vacation slideshow when you put this on
for people, No, it's worse.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
It's like coming to work and being like, look at
the card my kid made.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Rumors are starting to swirl about where Tom's getting the
cash for this lavish lifestyle and his wife's pop music career.
But Tom's host with the most persona has earned him
powerful friends and allies, the kind of people who can
quiet rumors and cut off any potential investigations. It's September
(27:41):
twenty ten, and Tom's throwing a big bash at the
State Bar of California's annual convention in Monterey Tonight's guest
of honor is Ron George, who's retiring after serving fifteen
years as the Chief Justice of the California State Supreme Court.
He's the same guy who spearheaded the study into private
arbitration after Tom invited all those judges on a cruise.
(28:04):
But it seems like there's no love lost between him
and Tom. Tom loves throwing extravagant parties with celebrity performers
like LeAnn Rimes, Penn and Teller, and Jay Leno. Tonight,
he's hired paul Anka to play under a white tent
on the hotel grounds. His firm is putting the bill.
But there's a problem. Tom's currently under investigation by the
(28:28):
California State Bar for deceptive behavior in a case against Dole,
the food company.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
So stick with me here.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Ron, the guest of honor, is technically the boss of
the California State Bar, which means he's the head of
the organization that's currently investigating Tom.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
So Tom singing.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Along while paul Anka serenades Ron with put your head
on my shoulder has ethical implications.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Yeah, I feel ethically compromised just listening to this.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
And sure, Justice George is retiring. But for many of
the people invited, this is too much. Some of them
decline their invitation or leave early. Ultimately, the private lawyer
hired to investigate Tom and the Dole case decides to
not pursue charges.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
And while we don't know.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
If the party had a direct effect on the outcome
of this particular case, Tom's coziness with California State Bar
staffers raises suspicions. By this point, he's been reported to
the bar many many times. He's alleged to have stolen
money from clients trust accounts, which is a disbarrible offense,
(29:41):
but Tom manages to keep his record squeaky clean thanks
to his personal connections. One of those connections is a
bar investigator named Tom Layton. Layton's job is to be
a legal watchdog for the public, but oh boy, does
Tom Girardi ever spoil this man. According to an LA
Times investigation, Tom routinely treats Layton to pricey meals at
(30:05):
high end restaurants and trips on private jets, and when
Layton and his wife are sued by their contractor, Girardi
Keys allegedly pours resources into the case free of charge,
and according to an independent state bar investigation, Tom allegedly
gives Layton and his family cash, gifts and experiences worth
(30:26):
over a million dollars. There are car payments, vegas vacations,
and allegedly Layton even has a Girardi Keys American Express card.
Layton has insisted under oath that he never worked on
an investigation involving Girardi Keys, but a later California State
bar report suggests that Layton intimidated people from filing complaints
(30:50):
against Tom in the first place. We reached out to
Layton for comment, by the way, and didn't hear back.
What is very clear is that the bar fails to
take complaints against Tom seriously because of his connections and influence.
But all these transactional relationships that are helping Tom avoid
big trouble are adding up, and the clients he's allegedly
(31:12):
ripping off won't stand to be shoved around forever. Around
the same time as a state bar conference, Joseph Rugomez
is at home.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
In San Bruno in the Bay Area.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
He's sitting down on the couch with his girlfriend, Jessica
Morales to watch the first game of the NFL season.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
They're both in their early twenties.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Joseph has long brown hair that sits around his shoulders.
His deep brown eyes seem to sparkle. Then the ground
starts shaking. Joseph and Jessica hear award like a jet engine.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Fire sweeps through the house.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Joseph described the scene in an ABC News special years later.
Speaker 11 (31:56):
I was surrounded by flame, managed to find the hoards
in my backyard, and I remember as I was opening
up that door, for a split second, I just remember
having my life flash in front of me and just
thinking like, all right, this is it.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
A gas line ruptured and the escaping gas erupted into
a massive fireball. Joseph's home is at the epicenter of
the explosion. Neighbors help firefighters drag hoses thousands of feet
to connect to hydrants while people are rushed to the hospital.
For more than an hour, the gas leak sent flames
billowing up sixty feet in the air. Jessica is one
(32:31):
of eight people killed in the fire. Joseph survives, but
he's left with burns on over eighty percent of his body.
Once he's stable and recovering in the hospital, his mother,
Kathy starts asking around for a good lawyer. She's a
brunette and has the same bright brown eyes as her son.
Kathy and her family are gonna need money for Joseph's
(32:52):
lifelong medical care. They decide to sue PG and E,
the same company that Aaron Brockovich sued.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Luckily, Kathy's best.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Friend is a legal consultant who previously worked with Aaron
Brockovic's firm, and they connect her with Tom Girardi. According
to Kathy, she and her friend go to meet Tom
in a big, high rise office in downtown San Francisco.
Tom reassures them that he's going to land them a
big win. They hire him and feel so relieved. Five
(33:26):
months later, when Joseph's finally let out of the hospital, he.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Meets with Tom and they hit it off.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
It seems like a legal power player is taking a
personal interest in him, the best case scenario to come
from a horrible situation. But Tom isn't the friend and
ally they think he is. Joseph is about to become
the latest victim caught up in Tom's scam.
Speaker 5 (33:57):
I feel like a legend.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Two years after the explosion, state and federal agencies conclude
that pgn e's negligence led to the pipe's failure. Joseph's
case seems to be heading to trial, but in January
twenty thirteen, Joseph and his family get word that Tom
has settled their case without giving them very many details.
(34:23):
Turns out, he took the case into private arbitration like
he did with the Aaron Brockovich case, and behind closed doors,
Tom negotiated a settlement for eleven million dollars. Joseph's pretty
happy with the amount. It should cover the medical treatment
he'll need for the rest of his life. With money
to spare, Tom says it'll take about three months to
(34:46):
get his money. But soon Tom has a different proposal
for Joseph and the Rugomez family. He suggests that they
let him invest their millions. He says he can guarantee
six percent interest, and almost immediately things start to feel fishy.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Tom becomes hard to.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Get a hold of and Joseph has to pester him
constantly to get any money.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
Later, in an ABC.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
News special, Joseph talks about how Tom would try to
get on his good side.
Speaker 4 (35:17):
Well, he would butter me up.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
You know what, Joe, You're a bitching guy.
Speaker 11 (35:20):
That's something he would say a lot. You're a bitching guy.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Baby. Sometimes he gets payments as promised and other times nothing.
Joseph needs the money for his medical procedures, and yet
Tom delays and delays. This goes on for years, but
while Joseph struggles to put his life back together and
pay for medical expenses, Tom is cementing his influence in.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
The halls of government.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
In twenty fifteen, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appears on
Tom's weekly AM radio show. It's called Chamthians of Justice
and it's syndicated on stations throughout California plus one in DC.
Speaker 9 (36:06):
This is Champions of Justice with Tom Girardi.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Tom regularly books people in the legal field and politicians
for casual interviews like this one with Eric wester.
Speaker 9 (36:17):
Mayor for you to find a little bit of time
to share with us is really nice and I deeply
mean that.
Speaker 4 (36:24):
Well, thank you, Tom, but it's easy when you call
you truly are a champion of justice.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Tom is a huge donor to democratic politicians.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
In exchange, he expects.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Them to be on call for things like radio appearances
or to hear.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
About who Tom wants appointed to the bench.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
And when there was a Superior Court seat up for
grabs more than a decade earlier, Tom reportedly recommended someone
to Senator Dianne Feinstein. It's not uncommon for lawyers to
recommend judges, but as is Tom's way, he is always
the most extra Belly Times got a hold of his
unpublished memoir where Tom brags about his political influence. Sachi,
(37:06):
can you read this excerpt from Tom's memoir?
Speaker 4 (37:09):
It says I make no bones about influencing judicial appointments.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
Awful, you say, unethical?
Speaker 4 (37:15):
Well, who better to recommend Amanda the bench than someone.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Who works with him every day?
Speaker 4 (37:20):
Well, you know, the important thing is he asked the
rhetorical question to himself and then did not answer it.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
It's kind of like you guys don't really understand this.
I'm the best person to recommend these people. Who do
you want someone else doing it? He just is smarter
than us. Well, Tom has a real hand in making
sure he sees a friendly face looking back at him
from the judge's bench When he goes into court with
friends like these, who's going to hold him accountable for
his bad behavior. He's built a shield of invincibility around him,
(37:51):
and it's so strong that he isn't afraid to enter
the primetime TV spotlight. When a huge opportunity comes for Erica,
He's about to be known in a whole new way.
It's been three years since Tom settled with PG and
E on behalf of Burned Victim Joseph Ugomez. Erica is
(38:13):
on set shooting a music video. She's wearing a baby
blue lingerie set. Her hair is big, curly and platinum
She's transformed herself into her alter ego Erica Jane, and
she's filming a sexy pillow fight with two of her
dancers while her newest song plays on a loop. Saji,
you know this song as well as I do. It's
(38:34):
called Expensive, that's spelled with two x's and a dollar sign.
It's the follow up single to her song how Many
About how many Fucks she gives? Spoiler none, here's a
little taste.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Dang, it's expensive to be.
Speaker 4 (38:56):
One of the worst songs ever made. And I love it.
Anytime you by like an iced coffee, anytime something costs
more than eighteen dollars, this song plays in my head.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah, and you know what she isn't lying.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
She says she spends upwards forty thousand dollars a month
just on her hair, makeup, and clothes. Erica and the
dancers play on a bed littered with paper bills that
fly up and around them as they laugh. Behind the camera,
her creative director shouts encouragement.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
That makes so much fun or so much.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Yeah, Sashi, doesn't it sound just like being in a
scamfluencer's recording session?
Speaker 4 (39:40):
Yeah, that's always the stuff we cut out people don't
get to hear it anyway.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
We know this is what it's like on set because
it's all being captured. For the seventh season of Bravos
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Erica said she'd planned
to retire her Erica Jane Alter ego before she was
cast on the show, had been costing her and Tom
too much money, but being on the Real Housewives has
given her a new platform and a new source of
(40:06):
income for her music career.
Speaker 4 (40:09):
You know, a lot of the women of the Housewives
have like interesting fake jobs, but I think Fake pop
Star is my favorite one, and it is a classic.
But I think Erica was the one spending the most
amount of money on it, for sure.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
Oh my god, totally.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Even some of the housewives who are rich themselves are
astounded by her lifestyle. In one of her first appearances
on the show, Erica talks about how they have two planes,
one for local johns and another for international travel.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
Bravo viewers like us.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Eat it up, but some of Tom's legal colleagues see
it as poor taste for him to be this flashy
with his money.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
It's really bonkers that these two would go on reality
TV when they were living in a house of cards.
But I guess it speaks to how much arrogance Tom had,
like he really thought he was untouchable. Yeah, it's very
clear that Tom never thought he would face any con
sequences even when he was flaunting all of his wealth
on TV. He has a lot of influential friends, but
(41:06):
he also has a powerful adversary, and in the next
episode of this two part series, he's going to come
for Tom, toppling the empire he's built and the pop
star lifestyle he's been bankrolling. This is The Power Broker
(41:30):
and the Pop Star Part one. I'm Sarah Hagey and
I'm Sachi Cole. We use many sources in our research.
A few that were particularly helpful were ABC News originals
Housewife and the Hustler, CNBC's American Breed Aaron Brockovich, The
Real Story in Salon by Kathleen Sharp, Girardi gained their
trust but left them with regret by Brandon Lowry and
(41:52):
Ryan Boison for Law three sixty, and the investigative work
of the Los Angeles Times reporters Harriet Ryan and Matt Hamilton.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
Jessica Ford wrote this episode.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Additional writing by us Satie Cole and Sarah Hagey. Our
senior producer is Jen Swan. Our producer is John Reid.
Our associate producers are Charlotte Miller and Lexi Purre. Our
story editor and producer is Sarah ENnie. Eric Thurm is
our story editor. Sound design is by sam Aida BacT
(42:22):
checking by Will Tablin. Additional audio assistants provided by Adrian Tapia.
Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Freesan Sync, our
coordinating producer is Desie Blaylock. Our managing producer is Matt Gant,
and our senior managing producer.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
Is Ryan Moore.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Kate Young and Olivia Richard are our series producers. Our
senior story editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Our senior producer
is Ginny Bloom. Our executive producers are Janine Pornelo, Stephanie Jens,
Jenny lower Beckmann and Marshall Louis.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
For wonder Eat.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Wonderful.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
With Wondry Plus, you can listen to new episodes of
Scamfluences early and AD free. Click the link in the
episode description to start your free trial today. Unlock premium
listening with early access, exclusive content and more.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
All AD free with Wondry.
Speaker 6 (43:23):
Plus, follow Fleshing Code on the Wondery app or wherever
you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of
Flesh and Code early and add free by joining Wondry
Plus in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And
before you go, be sure to tell us about yourself
by completing a short survey at wondery dot com slash survey.
(43:43):
And if you have a tip about a story you
think we should investigate, please write to us at wondery
dot com slash Tips
Hi, listeners, this is Thorty from Flesh and Code. I
want to say a massive thank you to everyone who
joined us on this journey with Travis. Your responses to
his story and the conversations that sparked about connection in
the digital age have blown us away. Even though Flesh
and Code has now wrapped, I've been thinking about all
the other ways that people can be vulnerable to manipulation
(00:23):
in our digital world. That's why I'm excited to introduce
you to Scamfluencers, a weekly series that uncovers the dark
side of influence in the digital age. Posted by Sachi
Cole and Sarah Hagy, each episode exposes how charismatic personalities
online can exploit our deepest desires, whether it's for love, wellness, wealth,
(00:46):
or belonging. If you've been fascinated by how technology can
be used to manipulate human connection in Flesh and Code,
then you'll be captivated by these stories of digital deception
and the real world consequences, and the facade falls away.
I'm about to play you an episode of Scamfluences, so
stay tuned while you're listening. Follow Scamfluences on the Wondery
(01:08):
app oh wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Wonder, Sachi, what would you name your pop star alter ego?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Pig bitch.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Honestly, I knew it was going to be something gross.
I was expecting, like but lover, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Yeah, I don't know why you asked me.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
It's because in the story I'm about to tell you,
a housewife transforms into a pop star named Erica Jane
and Sachi. I know you might think you know the story,
but she is really just the smallest piece of it.
It's a sunny southern California day sometime around twenty fifteen
(01:57):
or early twenty sixteen. Lisa Van Pomp and her husband
are being chauffeured in their black SUV up the driveway
of an enormous Pasadena mansion. As Lisa climbs the stone steps,
a camera crew follows behind. Lisa is a brunette who
wears a chic black cocktail dress with oversized diamond encrusted bracelets.
(02:17):
She's a wealthy restauranteur and the matriarch of the Real.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
She's here to meet the show's newest castmate, Erica and
her husband Tom Girardi. Erica opens the front door, wearing
a black mini dress that's conservative yet sexy. She's a
pop star and she has platinum and I mean platinum
blonde hair. Erica pours them all wine and takes Lisa
(02:43):
and her husband on a tour of her home. It's ostentatious,
even by Real Housewives standards. It's a ten thousand square
foot mansion built in nineteen twenty eight. The interior has
lots of chandeliers and Brownie Gold textiles, and it sits
on two acres of land. The garden designed by the
same firm that planned Central Park their first stop. The
(03:05):
library has fireplaces at either end of the room. Sexy
portraits of Erica hang over each one. The tour continues
with Erica showing off a small, high ceilinged room with
frescoes and carved crosses. Yes, Sachi, it is a chapel.
On the show, Lisa's visibly surprised and has questions about.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
It because you know, I'm a spiritual person.
Speaker 6 (03:29):
I wanted to do you put this in?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yes, I did.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
God, the dumb shit rich people buy with their riches,
I know.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And I also know you do remember this, and it
was crazy to witness on TV.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Imprinted in the underside of my eyelids.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
While Erica has had several number one singles on Billboard's
Dance Club chart, but she didn't pay for this mansion.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Her husband Tom did.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
He's a legendary Los Angeles attorney known for defending the
little guy against big corporation. His claim to fame is
that he helped Aaron Brockovich in the case that was
turned into the Julia Roberts movie. Tom's mostly quiet during
this visit with Lisa vander Pump, but the luxury on
display in his home seems at odds with the type
of do good or legal work that built his towering reputation,
(04:17):
because it turns out Tom's career helping others seems to
be about helping himself. For years, He's been accused of
stealing from his clients, people like burn victims and orphans,
and now that his and Erica's opulent lifestyle is being televised,
it's about to come under the microscope, and when it does,
it'll tank Tom's reputation and fuel one of the biggest
(04:39):
scandals in housewives history.
Speaker 6 (04:45):
Listeners, if you can't wait to find out what happens
to Travis and Lilly Rose, Well, you don't have to.
With Wondry Plus, you can binge the entire series right
now and add free start your free trial in the
Wondery app or on Apple pok.
Speaker 7 (05:00):
I'm John Robbins and joining me on how do You Cope?
This Week is the musician, writer and presenter Jordan Stephens.
Speaker 8 (05:07):
I think, honestly, before that point, I might have been
lying a little bit in therapy. I might not really
been understanding what it was that I could do in there.
I definitely didn't think it was a safe space because
I didn't tell my therapists what I've done.
Speaker 7 (05:18):
So that's how do you Cope? With me? John Robbins,
find us wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
From Wondering.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I'm Sarah Haggey and I'm Slatchy Cool and this is
scampo Answers Legend. Tom Girardi had a reputation as the
heroic lawyer getting justice for the underdogs, and Erica Girardi
was the globe trotting pop star. But behind that shiny
(05:52):
facade was a dark reality. For this lion of California
law and his fabulous famous housewife. Things are about to
get all too real. This is episode one of a
two part series I'm calling it The Powerbroker and The
pop Stard. Dutch Tom's legal aspirations date back at least
(06:18):
to nineteen fifty seven. It's the year he graduates high
school in Los Angeles and starts attending Loyola Marymount University
with the goal of going to law school. He's eighteen
years old, handsome and clean cut, sporting close cropped hair.
Tom wants to follow in the footsteps of his hero,
fictional lawyer Perry Mason. Perry Mason is a legal drama
(06:40):
set in Los Angeles, and in it, defense attorney Perry
Mason takes on difficult cases, always sticking up for the underdog.
He's exactly the type of guy Tom aspires to be.
Here's what Tom tells the International Association of Top Professionals
years later.
Speaker 9 (06:57):
I watched that show for two decades. I thought man
to ever be like Perry would really be great.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
After undergrad Tom graduates from law school and starts out
as a trial lawyer. Think slip and falls, car accidents,
and medical malpractice. Then in nineteen sixty five, he starts
a firm with an attorney named Robert Keith. They call
it Girardi and Keys. About five years later, Tom wins
a one point four million dollar verdict, the biggest malpractice
(07:28):
decision in California at the time. He's also getting chummy
with politicians like Jerry Brown. He works to get him
elected governor of California in nineteen seventy five, and later
brags about influencing him to make judicial appointments. When asked
about this claim, a spokesperson for Brown told The La
Times that Tom was quote just one of hundreds who
(07:48):
offered an opinion on judicial candidates.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
You know, I thought I knew a lot about Tom Girardi,
but I didn't know how much political capital he used
to have.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Whee, this is just the beginning.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Over time, Tom starts to focus on toxic torts lawsuits
where victims alleged damage from chemicals and pollutants. Years later,
Tom talked about that transition in an interview with the
International Association of Top Professionals.
Speaker 9 (08:18):
You know, when I was a baby lawyer, none of
my cases had a moral aspect to them. The ladies
slipped and fell in the ice cream at.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
The drug store.
Speaker 9 (08:26):
They didn't wander to slip and fall. Now, in almost
all these cases there's a moral aspect.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
One of the most high profile examples of these cases
comes in the early nineties when Tom represents more than
six hundred Lockheed employees. The employees alleged they were exposed
to toxic chemicals while building stealth bombers. In one of
the jury cases, representing thirty eight of the workers, Tom
wins a three hundred and eighty million dollar verdict. That's
(08:54):
a huge payout for the victims and for Tom's firm.
Thanks to massive wins like this one, Tom's living an increasingly.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Big budget lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
He's become Why Your Friends to the World series in
a private jet type rich. He spent decades building a
reputation as the best in his field, and it's this
reputation that leads a young single mom to ask for
his help with the case of a lifetime. It's a
(09:25):
Spring of nineteen ninety three. I imagine Aaron Brockovich is
sitting in a bougie conference room with Tom Gerbardi. Aaron
is a legal clerk, and she's disarming and direct. She's beautiful,
with big blonde hair, big jewelry, and by her own description,
big boobs. Beside her is her boss ed Mazriy, who
(09:45):
is in his sixties with big glasses and.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
A pretty good head of hair himself.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
He runs a small law firm in Westlake, Village just
north of Los Angeles. Aaron and Ed are here to
talk to Tom about a case they need help with.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Saji. What do you know about the very famous Aaron
Brockovic case.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Oh, I have seen the movie Aaron Brockovich A lot.
I can probably recite the two different number monologue she gives,
the one that she gives to Aaron Eckhart and then
the one that she does later with the phone numbers.
Very important, very formative.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I have her phone number. You want her number two?
I'll tell you everything. I love her. I love her well.
For those who don't know, the gist of it is this.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
In the fifties and sixties, Pacific Gas an Electric Company
or PG and E, dumped hundreds of millions of gallons
of chromium tainted water into unlined holding ponds. The contamination
leaked into the water supply of a California town called Hinkley.
In the following decades, residents started getting cancer and other
health issues. They think that chromium in their water is
(10:55):
making them sick. Ed and Aaron know they have a
big case. As more plaintiffs join, it gets overwhelming. They
need a legal heavyweight on their team. By this point,
Tom hassued insurance companies and oil and chemical companies, and
after hearing about this PG and E case, he joins
the team. Tom and his firm start working on the case,
(11:17):
interviewing plaintiffs, gathering documentation, and negotiating with PG and E,
and in nineteen ninety six, three years after Gerardi became involved,
they forced PG and E to settle for three hundred
and thirty three million dollars. Aaron talked about Tom's role
in the case in an interview decades later.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
You know, I just certainly didn't do Ankley alone.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Had the law firms not come together and the people
and all of us in sinc it wouldn't have turned
out this way.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Tom's career is cruising, but his personal life has hit
the skids. He's headed for a messy divorce from his
second wife, but soon a new romantic match is about
to rock his world. It's a late nineties, about two
years after the PG and E settlement. Erica Chahoi is
(12:11):
in her late twenties. She's working as a cocktail waitress
in La while trying to make it as an actor.
She's a natural beauty with blonde hair and skin as
smooth as a Nutrigena commercial Sachi. Just so you know,
a lot of our details about Erica's life at this
time come from her memoir Pretty Mess. We reached out
to Erica's lawyer and he did not respond to the
(12:33):
request for comment. In her memoir, Erica writes that she
grew up in Georgia. After graduating, she moved to New
York to chase her dreams. She booked some roles like
playing the very first character.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
To die on Law and Order. Gotta give it to her.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, this is one of the most iconic things a
housewife has ever done, a person has ever done, being
the first corpse.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
And while in New York, Erica got married and had
a son. She and her husband divorced about eighteen months later.
Erica writes in her book that she saw this as
the push she needed to head to Hollywood. She left
her son behind with his dad, and now she's in
La working at a restaurant called Chasin's. It just so
happens to have a powerful investor and patron named Tom Girardi.
(13:20):
Tom's around sixty at this time, and he's often at
Chasin's upstairs club, holding court with other lawyers, journalists, and politicians.
People he hopes to get on his side, and he
catches Erica's eye. Here's how she describes the attraction in
the audiobook of Pretty Mess.
Speaker 5 (13:37):
When he spoke, he made me feel like I was
the only person in the room. Heck, he made me
feel like I was the only person in the world.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
It was inspirational, well, Erica says, she makes the first move.
She slips Tom her number.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Things progress quickly, and just a few months later, Erica
moves into Tom's mansion. He suggests she quit her job,
and she agrees. On her last shift, she dramatically dumps
her uniform in the garbage bin, which is about to
put her acting ambitions on hold to be Tom's wife,
but Tom's about to bring her into the celebrity spotlight.
(14:17):
In January two thousand, about two years after they meet,
Erica gets a call from Tom, who is now her fiance.
Erica writes in her memoir that Tom's calling with exciting news.
He says that his friend, Judge Paul Flynn can marry
them that day. Judge Flynn is just one of Tom's
many friends slash colleagues. He actually oversaw Snoop Dogg's nineteen
(14:40):
ninety five murder trial. Snoop, by the way, was acquitted.
Since both Tom and Erica have previously been married, they
want to keep the ceremony low key. Erica goes to
the Gucci store and picks out a long, silvery satin dress.
When they arrive at the Los Angeles Country Club, Judge
Flynn walks off the green all and puts on a
(15:01):
robe over his golf clothes. One of the witnesses is
Tom's best friend, Robert Baker. Robert unsuccessfully defended oj Simpson
in a wrongful death civil suit. Tom and Erica are
married in a small reading room at the Los Angeles
Country Club. Then they hop on their jet and fly
to Las Vegas to have dinner at their favorite restaurant.
(15:23):
And they never sign a prenup. Here's Erica explaining why
in her audiobook.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
Mister Girardi knows the law so well that a prenup
is not going to do shit. As any lawyer will
tell you, there is always a way around a prenup,
even if you think it's ironclad. Tom was going to
protect himself no matter what. And what did I need
to protect? The little red convertible and trash bags full
of clothes I rolled up with.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Woof. When you think about like the financial burdens that
people put themselves through in order to get married, it
is crazy.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
That we do it.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
You're like, hey, I like you so much. I want
to care all your debt forever.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
I also would like to say she's doing a great
job reading this audiobook. You feel like she's talking to you.
I'm like, yeah, I guess that's true.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
I'm convinced.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
I don't know Sarah. I think she's getting really bad
legal advice from her husband, who would be pretty conflicted.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Well regardless, Tom is making a commitment to Erica, but
in the end, he's in charge. As Erica explains on
one of her first episodes of Real Housewives.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
Tom is always the boss. As a matter of fact,
in my cell phone it comes up the boss.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
The boss is calling.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Surrounded by powerful friends in exclusive places.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
He must feel like he's untouchable. It helps to have.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Judges on call for big personal moments like this and
for when Tom needs serious professional favors because in the background,
some less than ethical behavior is starting to come to light.
A couple of months after Tom and Erica get married,
(17:04):
reporter Kathleen Sharp is following a major lead. She has
light brown, shaggy hair and bangs. She gives off serious
journalist vibes. Kathleen's been talking to former plaintiffs in the
PG and E case, and she discovers that the case
never went to trial. It started in open court, but
when the judge assigned to the case retired, Tom told
(17:26):
the victims that it could take five more years to
get a new trial date, so Tom convinced them to
voluntarily enter arbitration. That's where private judges mediate between the
two sides in order to reach a settlement. At this time,
Tom is still taking on cases where he can flex
his trial litigation skills, but the arbitration approach has upsides
(17:48):
like control. The process does have quicker settlement times, but
arbitration isn't monitored by the government, and judges are incentivized
to keep the lawyers happy so they'll be hired again.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
This shifts the power into.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
The hands of the lawyers and away from the victims
they're representing.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
This sounds gross. I love to hear how the legal
system can be perverted at every turn.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And there's also a major lack of transparency in private arbitration.
The findings aren't made public, so pgn's role and any
scientific evidence uncovered in the case is unknown.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
That means a.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Huge public safety issue like water contamination is essentially decided
in secret by corporations and attorneys like Tom, who represents
the victims, who often don't understand how the legal system works.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I feel safe.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
I feel super super safe. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
And Kathleen the reporter also uncovers that Tom had personal
ties to some of the private judges involved. One even
officiated his second wedding, the one right before he married Erica.
Side note, we reached out to Tom through his lawyer
and did not hear back. After the case wraps, Tom
took some of the judge on a Mediterranean cruise, which
(19:02):
the judges eventually repaid him for. Here's Kathleen describing it
to CNBC's American Creed.
Speaker 10 (19:08):
There would be butlered waiters with silver trays full of champagne,
or bikini clad ladies frolicking on the sun drenched decks.
It gave decanance a bad name.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
One of the plaintiffs in the PG and E case
is a woman named Carol Smith. She tells Kathleen she
has questions about how the PG and E settlement money
was distributed. Payout supposedly varied based on the medical records
of the residents, but Carol says that no one ever
asked for hers, and she doesn't understand why her husband,
who had seventeen tumors removed, got less money than people
(19:45):
with similar or less serious health issues.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Carol tells Kathleen.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
About other red flags, like that Girardi Keys allegedly deducted
ten million dollars in expenses but never explained where that
money went, and some of the victims who are miners,
were allegedly charged way more than California's.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Limit of legal fees.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Tom's clients are starting to doubt his reputation as a
champion of justice, but Tom's ability to create his own
myth is about to get supercharged by a star making
turn in Hollywood, and.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
I Feel Like a Legend.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Aaron Brockovich is released in movie theaters in March two thousand.
It's directed by Steven Soderberg and stars Julia Roberts and
immediately has Oscar buzz. Tom Girardi was already wildly successful
before the movie comes out, but afterward it put his
firm on the map like never before. The movie is
(20:51):
based on the huge case Tom helped the real life
Aaron win against PG and E. There's no character named
Tom Girardi in the movie. One character is a composite
of him and several other LA lawyers, but Tom's name
does appear during the end credits under special thanks. In interviews,
he says he's on set every day acting as a
(21:12):
consultant and he loves it. Later, he tells a reporter
about a time he was having dinner with Bill Clinton
when Julia Roberts walked over to talk to him because
of their time together on set.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
What a lame brag. I like Julia Roberts too, but
you're not gonna catch me on here saying things like that.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
You know what, I say the same thing.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
But if you say HI to me before a former president,
I will tell.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
People, Yeah, you know what, You're right.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
I'm on board now I'm on Tom Gardy's side.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Well, obviously, Tom is loving all of the publicity, and
a month after the movie comes out, he gets even more,
and this time.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
It's not so positive.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Kathleen publishes another side of the peace case. Her article
runs on slate dot Com with the headline Aaron Brockovich
the Real Story. In it, she writes about the pitfalls
of private arbitration and exposes how Tom took some of
the judges on a Mediterranean cruise. According to her reporting,
the crews inspired a study into private arbitration. It's led
(22:21):
by the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, Ron George.
He recommends that arbitrares disclose their relationships with lawyers whose
cases come before them and not accept gifts. But the
Aaron Brockovich movie overshadows Kathleen's reporting. It cements Tom's reputation
as a heroic lawyer. Kathleen can probably only watch in
(22:42):
frustration as Tom leans harder.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Into a celebrity image.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
By two thousand and one, he's reportedly taking in more
than a quarter of a million dollars every month. His
firm expands into a second building on Wilshire Boulevard near
downtown LA but despite how long it's grown, the firm
doesn't offer its legal staff the chance to make partner.
Tom owns one hundred percent of the corporation. It's an
(23:08):
unusual arrangement and it gives him unchecked power over the
company and its finances. Even still, new lawyers are clamoring
for jobs at the famous firm Girardi Keys has a
great reputation and its lawyers get deep expense accounts to
take clients to games at the Staples Center. Tom even
pays for lawyers luxury cars and a tailor for their
(23:31):
suits and shirts. He's come a long way since he
was a college kid idolizing Perry Mason, and Erica is
there by his side, enjoying his life of luxury. But
her ambition is fighting to come out, and when it does,
it'll make everything so much more complicated. It's around two
(23:55):
thousand and eight and Erica Girardi is taking the stage
at the Nymphomaniacs Ball in San Francisco.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
It's a sex party.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Held at a huge old theater turned to nightclub called
Pleasure Zone. The spotlight reflects off the rhinestones on Erica's
blue catsuit. It was made by a designer who's created
looks for Britney Spears, Rue.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Paul and Michael Jackson.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Erica's music career is just starting out, and this is
her first gig. The NINFO Maniac Ball is most definitely
not a charity board event, but Erica writes that it's
not a big scandalous orgy like she imagined. It's mostly
couples making out. At this time, she's around thirty five
and has spent eight years being Tom's number one fan,
(24:40):
and now she's ready for some fans of her own.
Here she is talking about it in her Ted Talk
years later, Yes you heard that heard Ted Talk.
Speaker 5 (24:50):
I was hiding. I was hiding behind my husband, Tom,
a very successful lawyer, and as Tom's wife, I had
become Erica Girardi. And I never want wanted to say
anything disagreeable, and I never wanted to make waves.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
So Erica turns to her first love, performing. She was
introduced to a songwriter who penned songs for Madonna, Stevie Nicks,
and Britney Spears, and he helped Erica develop an alter ego,
Erica Jane. Erica Jane is different from Missus Girardi, the
picture perfect housewife. She's a vixen, powerful and unapologetic. Erica
(25:28):
describes her return to performing in her memoir pretty mess.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Can you read this excerpt, Sachi.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
Yeah, it says, without my project, I would have been
relegated to a life of shopping, sitting on a few
charity boards of no consequence, and standing silently by my
husband's side, full of unrealized potential.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Oh that's sad if.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
She's already thinking about like legacy and potential. Like God,
she did not help herself at all. She had all
of that money and like the best thing she could
think to do with it was like, I'll make myself
Madonna well.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
When she releases her first single, Rollercoaster, that same year,
it hits number one on Billboard's US Dance Club charts.
She follows that up with eight more number one tracks,
including One Hot Pleasure, Party, People.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Ignite the World, and Painkiller.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
According to Erica, Tom is incredibly supportive of her career,
including financially, and Tom loves to show her off. One time,
when hosting an event for the Italian American Lawyers Association,
he makes the entire group watch Erica's latest music video,
One Hot Pleasure.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
I love that this.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
Video is both so weird and so vasilene covered, but
also that Tom is making a bunch of.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Lawyers watch it. Yeah, it's like he doesn't have to
do that.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
He really is like, hey, I all right, time to
watch the video of my wife doing this. What are
you showing a vacation slideshow when you put this on
for people, No, it's worse.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
It's like coming to work and being like, look at
the card my kid made.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Rumors are starting to swirl about where Tom's getting the
cash for this lavish lifestyle and his wife's pop music career.
But Tom's host with the most persona has earned him
powerful friends and allies, the kind of people who can
quiet rumors and cut off any potential investigations. It's September
(27:41):
twenty ten, and Tom's throwing a big bash at the
State Bar of California's annual convention in Monterey Tonight's guest
of honor is Ron George, who's retiring after serving fifteen
years as the Chief Justice of the California State Supreme Court.
He's the same guy who spearheaded the study into private
arbitration after Tom invited all those judges on a cruise.
(28:04):
But it seems like there's no love lost between him
and Tom. Tom loves throwing extravagant parties with celebrity performers
like LeAnn Rimes, Penn and Teller, and Jay Leno. Tonight,
he's hired paul Anka to play under a white tent
on the hotel grounds. His firm is putting the bill.
But there's a problem. Tom's currently under investigation by the
(28:28):
California State Bar for deceptive behavior in a case against Dole,
the food company.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
So stick with me here.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Ron, the guest of honor, is technically the boss of
the California State Bar, which means he's the head of
the organization that's currently investigating Tom.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
So Tom singing.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Along while paul Anka serenades Ron with put your head
on my shoulder has ethical implications.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Yeah, I feel ethically compromised just listening to this.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
And sure, Justice George is retiring. But for many of
the people invited, this is too much. Some of them
decline their invitation or leave early. Ultimately, the private lawyer
hired to investigate Tom and the Dole case decides to
not pursue charges.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
And while we don't know.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
If the party had a direct effect on the outcome
of this particular case, Tom's coziness with California State Bar
staffers raises suspicions. By this point, he's been reported to
the bar many many times. He's alleged to have stolen
money from clients trust accounts, which is a disbarrible offense,
(29:41):
but Tom manages to keep his record squeaky clean thanks
to his personal connections. One of those connections is a
bar investigator named Tom Layton. Layton's job is to be
a legal watchdog for the public, but oh boy, does
Tom Girardi ever spoil this man. According to an LA
Times investigation, Tom routinely treats Layton to pricey meals at
(30:05):
high end restaurants and trips on private jets, and when
Layton and his wife are sued by their contractor, Girardi
Keys allegedly pours resources into the case free of charge,
and according to an independent state bar investigation, Tom allegedly
gives Layton and his family cash, gifts and experiences worth
(30:26):
over a million dollars. There are car payments, vegas vacations,
and allegedly Layton even has a Girardi Keys American Express card.
Layton has insisted under oath that he never worked on
an investigation involving Girardi Keys, but a later California State
bar report suggests that Layton intimidated people from filing complaints
(30:50):
against Tom in the first place. We reached out to
Layton for comment, by the way, and didn't hear back.
What is very clear is that the bar fails to
take complaints against Tom seriously because of his connections and influence.
But all these transactional relationships that are helping Tom avoid
big trouble are adding up, and the clients he's allegedly
(31:12):
ripping off won't stand to be shoved around forever. Around
the same time as a state bar conference, Joseph Rugomez
is at home.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
In San Bruno in the Bay Area.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
He's sitting down on the couch with his girlfriend, Jessica
Morales to watch the first game of the NFL season.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
They're both in their early twenties.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Joseph has long brown hair that sits around his shoulders.
His deep brown eyes seem to sparkle. Then the ground
starts shaking. Joseph and Jessica hear award like a jet engine.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Fire sweeps through the house.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Joseph described the scene in an ABC News special years later.
Speaker 11 (31:56):
I was surrounded by flame, managed to find the hoards
in my backyard, and I remember as I was opening
up that door, for a split second, I just remember
having my life flash in front of me and just
thinking like, all right, this is it.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
A gas line ruptured and the escaping gas erupted into
a massive fireball. Joseph's home is at the epicenter of
the explosion. Neighbors help firefighters drag hoses thousands of feet
to connect to hydrants while people are rushed to the hospital.
For more than an hour, the gas leak sent flames
billowing up sixty feet in the air. Jessica is one
(32:31):
of eight people killed in the fire. Joseph survives, but
he's left with burns on over eighty percent of his body.
Once he's stable and recovering in the hospital, his mother,
Kathy starts asking around for a good lawyer. She's a
brunette and has the same bright brown eyes as her son.
Kathy and her family are gonna need money for Joseph's
(32:52):
lifelong medical care. They decide to sue PG and E,
the same company that Aaron Brockovich sued.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Luckily, Kathy's best.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Friend is a legal consultant who previously worked with Aaron
Brockovic's firm, and they connect her with Tom Girardi. According
to Kathy, she and her friend go to meet Tom
in a big, high rise office in downtown San Francisco.
Tom reassures them that he's going to land them a
big win. They hire him and feel so relieved. Five
(33:26):
months later, when Joseph's finally let out of the hospital, he.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Meets with Tom and they hit it off.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
It seems like a legal power player is taking a
personal interest in him, the best case scenario to come
from a horrible situation. But Tom isn't the friend and
ally they think he is. Joseph is about to become
the latest victim caught up in Tom's scam.
Speaker 5 (33:57):
I feel like a legend.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Two years after the explosion, state and federal agencies conclude
that pgn e's negligence led to the pipe's failure. Joseph's
case seems to be heading to trial, but in January
twenty thirteen, Joseph and his family get word that Tom
has settled their case without giving them very many details.
(34:23):
Turns out, he took the case into private arbitration like
he did with the Aaron Brockovich case, and behind closed doors,
Tom negotiated a settlement for eleven million dollars. Joseph's pretty
happy with the amount. It should cover the medical treatment
he'll need for the rest of his life. With money
to spare, Tom says it'll take about three months to
(34:46):
get his money. But soon Tom has a different proposal
for Joseph and the Rugomez family. He suggests that they
let him invest their millions. He says he can guarantee
six percent interest, and almost immediately things start to feel fishy.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Tom becomes hard to.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Get a hold of and Joseph has to pester him
constantly to get any money.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
Later, in an ABC.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
News special, Joseph talks about how Tom would try to
get on his good side.
Speaker 4 (35:17):
Well, he would butter me up.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
You know what, Joe, You're a bitching guy.
Speaker 11 (35:20):
That's something he would say a lot. You're a bitching guy.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Baby. Sometimes he gets payments as promised and other times nothing.
Joseph needs the money for his medical procedures, and yet
Tom delays and delays. This goes on for years, but
while Joseph struggles to put his life back together and
pay for medical expenses, Tom is cementing his influence in.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
The halls of government.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
In twenty fifteen, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appears on
Tom's weekly AM radio show. It's called Chamthians of Justice
and it's syndicated on stations throughout California plus one in DC.
Speaker 9 (36:06):
This is Champions of Justice with Tom Girardi.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Tom regularly books people in the legal field and politicians
for casual interviews like this one with Eric wester.
Speaker 9 (36:17):
Mayor for you to find a little bit of time
to share with us is really nice and I deeply
mean that.
Speaker 4 (36:24):
Well, thank you, Tom, but it's easy when you call
you truly are a champion of justice.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Tom is a huge donor to democratic politicians.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
In exchange, he expects.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Them to be on call for things like radio appearances
or to hear.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
About who Tom wants appointed to the bench.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
And when there was a Superior Court seat up for
grabs more than a decade earlier, Tom reportedly recommended someone
to Senator Dianne Feinstein. It's not uncommon for lawyers to
recommend judges, but as is Tom's way, he is always
the most extra Belly Times got a hold of his
unpublished memoir where Tom brags about his political influence. Sachi,
(37:06):
can you read this excerpt from Tom's memoir?
Speaker 4 (37:09):
It says I make no bones about influencing judicial appointments.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
Awful, you say, unethical?
Speaker 4 (37:15):
Well, who better to recommend Amanda the bench than someone.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Who works with him every day?
Speaker 4 (37:20):
Well, you know, the important thing is he asked the
rhetorical question to himself and then did not answer it.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
It's kind of like you guys don't really understand this.
I'm the best person to recommend these people. Who do
you want someone else doing it? He just is smarter
than us. Well, Tom has a real hand in making
sure he sees a friendly face looking back at him
from the judge's bench When he goes into court with
friends like these, who's going to hold him accountable for
his bad behavior. He's built a shield of invincibility around him,
(37:51):
and it's so strong that he isn't afraid to enter
the primetime TV spotlight. When a huge opportunity comes for Erica,
He's about to be known in a whole new way.
It's been three years since Tom settled with PG and
E on behalf of Burned Victim Joseph Ugomez. Erica is
(38:13):
on set shooting a music video. She's wearing a baby
blue lingerie set. Her hair is big, curly and platinum
She's transformed herself into her alter ego Erica Jane, and
she's filming a sexy pillow fight with two of her
dancers while her newest song plays on a loop. Saji,
you know this song as well as I do. It's
(38:34):
called Expensive, that's spelled with two x's and a dollar sign.
It's the follow up single to her song how Many
About how many Fucks she gives? Spoiler none, here's a
little taste.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Dang, it's expensive to be.
Speaker 4 (38:56):
One of the worst songs ever made. And I love it.
Anytime you by like an iced coffee, anytime something costs
more than eighteen dollars, this song plays in my head.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah, and you know what she isn't lying.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
She says she spends upwards forty thousand dollars a month
just on her hair, makeup, and clothes. Erica and the
dancers play on a bed littered with paper bills that
fly up and around them as they laugh. Behind the camera,
her creative director shouts encouragement.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
That makes so much fun or so much.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Yeah, Sashi, doesn't it sound just like being in a
scamfluencer's recording session?
Speaker 4 (39:40):
Yeah, that's always the stuff we cut out people don't
get to hear it anyway.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
We know this is what it's like on set because
it's all being captured. For the seventh season of Bravos
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Erica said she'd planned
to retire her Erica Jane Alter ego before she was
cast on the show, had been costing her and Tom
too much money, but being on the Real Housewives has
given her a new platform and a new source of
(40:06):
income for her music career.
Speaker 4 (40:09):
You know, a lot of the women of the Housewives
have like interesting fake jobs, but I think Fake pop
Star is my favorite one, and it is a classic.
But I think Erica was the one spending the most
amount of money on it, for sure.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
Oh my god, totally.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Even some of the housewives who are rich themselves are
astounded by her lifestyle. In one of her first appearances
on the show, Erica talks about how they have two planes,
one for local johns and another for international travel.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
Bravo viewers like us.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Eat it up, but some of Tom's legal colleagues see
it as poor taste for him to be this flashy
with his money.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
It's really bonkers that these two would go on reality
TV when they were living in a house of cards.
But I guess it speaks to how much arrogance Tom had,
like he really thought he was untouchable. Yeah, it's very
clear that Tom never thought he would face any con
sequences even when he was flaunting all of his wealth
on TV. He has a lot of influential friends, but
(41:06):
he also has a powerful adversary, and in the next
episode of this two part series, he's going to come
for Tom, toppling the empire he's built and the pop
star lifestyle he's been bankrolling. This is The Power Broker
(41:30):
and the Pop Star Part one. I'm Sarah Hagey and
I'm Sachi Cole. We use many sources in our research.
A few that were particularly helpful were ABC News originals
Housewife and the Hustler, CNBC's American Breed Aaron Brockovich, The
Real Story in Salon by Kathleen Sharp, Girardi gained their
trust but left them with regret by Brandon Lowry and
(41:52):
Ryan Boison for Law three sixty, and the investigative work
of the Los Angeles Times reporters Harriet Ryan and Matt Hamilton.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
Jessica Ford wrote this episode.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Additional writing by us Satie Cole and Sarah Hagey. Our
senior producer is Jen Swan. Our producer is John Reid.
Our associate producers are Charlotte Miller and Lexi Purre. Our
story editor and producer is Sarah ENnie. Eric Thurm is
our story editor. Sound design is by sam Aida BacT
(42:22):
checking by Will Tablin. Additional audio assistants provided by Adrian Tapia.
Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Freesan Sync, our
coordinating producer is Desie Blaylock. Our managing producer is Matt Gant,
and our senior managing producer.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
Is Ryan Moore.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Kate Young and Olivia Richard are our series producers. Our
senior story editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Our senior producer
is Ginny Bloom. Our executive producers are Janine Pornelo, Stephanie Jens,
Jenny lower Beckmann and Marshall Louis.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
For wonder Eat.
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Wonderful.
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All AD free with Wondry.
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Plus, follow Fleshing Code on the Wondery app or wherever
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by completing a short survey at wondery dot com slash survey.
(43:43):
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