♪ i'll meet you under the man straight up ♪ ♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, the housewife and the hustler. she's a reality tv star. >> i'm an enigma wrapped in a riddle ask cash. >> he's a legendary lawyer known for making big companies pay. their lavish lifestyle and the victims who say they never got a penny. now the shocking revelation. >> i had about $80 million. that's all gone. >> the scandal that is shaking up the legal world. plus inspired art. ♪ lil nas x needed dance moves for his "snl" appearance "call me by your name." he called this guy, known for his ground-breaking choreography and tearing down barriers.

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or a public charging credit. see you volvo retailer for details. ♪ good evening. thank you for joining us tonight. erika jayne and tom girardi were living the life. she's a real housewife, he was known for representing the lil

guy against big companies. it appeared to pay very well. they were the ultimate hollywood power couple living a life of luxury. but their fairytale now looking more like a soap opera. here's abc's deborah roberts. >> reporter: erika jayne is in need of a new lawyer. representing the reality star in her bankruptcy case dropping her as a client. what does it say that her lawyers are quitting her case? >> any time a lawyer quits a case, it does not take a genius to find out that is not a good thing. >> reporter: in the legal documents the firm writing, the relationship of trust and confidence that is essential to a properly functioning attorney-client relationship has broken down. the relationship is irreparable. this just the latest fallout in the ongoing legal scandal surrounding the bravo star and her high-profile split with her 82-year-old husband, attorney tom girardi, which appears to be

a storyline on the show this season. >> because the biggest scandal in "housewives" history -- >> did you know what was going on? >> about to go from 0 to 100. >> reporter: tom girardi stands accused of embezzlement and fraud for allegedly stealing millions from his clients' settlements, raising questions about oversight of the california legal system. >> it's embarrassing. it's just embarrassing that we have not policed ourselves in a way that this kind of activity couldn't have been stopped. >> reporter: california stater? tom umberg chairs the state judiciary committee which has oversight of the state bar. >> what do you want to know about what has transpired with the bar the last several years? >> i want to know how deep this has gone. the situation is bigger than tom girardi, the situation is such that if the bar allowed that misconduct to continue for as long as it did, you know, are there others that are similarly situated? and what needs to be done to make sure that this doesn't happen again? >> reporter: just days ago, the

california bar association admitting to missteps in its handling of girardi in the past, writing, an audit of past complaints filed against attorney thomas b. girardi revealed mistakes made by the bar over the many decades of mr. girardi's career, going back some 40 years. the bar now saying it's committed to implementing reforms in oversight. >> for the bar association to say that the mistakes go back 40 years? is astonishing. to suggest that it's been decades of time? where they haven't been investigating problems? that's unprecedented. >> how is it possible that a lawyer could escape some scrutiny after years and years of complaints from victims? >> deborah, that's an excellent question, and that's one of the reasons i have taken the funding out of the state bar for this year until we get answers to those questions.

until they appoint a chief trial counsel. until we know what happened and we know how it's going to never, ever, ever happen again. this is horrendous. >> reporter: girardi's very public fall from grace the subject of an abc news original documentary "the housewife and the hustler" currently streaming on hulu. >> that bothered me a little bit, seeing them with this extravagant lifestyle. it often made me wonder, i wonder if some of that money's mine? >> out of the $130,000 settlement, i haven't received anything, not a penny. >> this is tom girardi, don't be mad at me, it's not my fault. >> reporter: accusations against the legal legend include allegations that he used the stolen client money to fund his lavish lifestyle. >> when you're a personal injury lawyer, the worst thing someone could allege about you would be that you were stealing clients' money. that's almost the ultimate sin. >> i think prior to the documentary, the story was very

tabloid in nature. i think what the documentary did a great job at was really giving a voice to the victims. >> reporter: allegations all the more stunning because girardi was once the pinnacle of the legal world. >> tom girardi was l.a. law. he is mr. lawyer. >> a superstar. >> an icon. >> a bad-ass trial lawyer. >> we're talking the money we're really going to get, and that's $15 million. ♪ i'm a man without conviction ♪ >> if you had a case that had the potential to resolve itself fdollars, his was thellions and kind of firm that you wanted to go to. he didn't just represent l.a.'s elite, he represented a lot of average folks too. ♪ karma chameleon ♪ ♪ you come and go you come and go ♪ >> when i became a lawyer over

30 years ago, i knew tom girardi, who he was, from day one. ♪ with golden dreams with golden dreams ♪ >> and then, of course, the case came along which a lot of people refer to as the brockovich case where he sued pg&e. >> pg&e has requested that we submit to binding arbitration. >> what's that? >> tom girardi was depicted in the erin brockovich movie, but in real life, he's the actual attorney who closed the deal that at the time was the largest settlement of its kind. >> reporter: girardi's former clients had trouble believing anything was wrong, given his top-notch reputation. joe ragoma says girardi owed him millions but always had excuses for why he couldn't pay. >> i mean, it was as simple as me noticing like, okay, i'm expected to get a payment this day. and i didn't get it. so i would call him.

and, you know, he was hard to get ahold of. he'd be like, oh, yes, sorry about that, these things happen, i'll get to it you next week. half the time the check would come when he'd say so, the second time. other times it wouldn't. >> reporter: his mother, kathy, and best friend, kimberly, worked for years to uncover details about their missing money. kimberly archie, a legal consultant, once worked with girardi. >> i want to do as good as i can for you. i'm in your corner. i've never believed in a case more and i've never liked a family more than you guys, i mean that. okay, i'll try and reach you over the weekend, good-bye. >> when i hear the voice, it makes me sick to my stomach. because i know it was all a lie. >> reporter: the family ultimately sue girardi, hoping to recover their money. the documentary featuring this never before aired deposition from that lawsuit. >> do you have any personal

banking? >> no, i'm -- at one point, i had around $80 million. or $50 million in cash. that's all gone. >> reporter: a federal judge has referred at least one case involving girardi to the u.s. attorney's office. >> when a federal judge makes a criminal referral to the u.s. attorney's office, it means that that judge thinks that there was a crime that may have been committed and is asking the u.s. attorney's office to investigate. that's bad news for the person who is being referred. >> reporter: the documentary raising questions about what erika jayne knew of her husband's alleged behavior. she is named in at least one of the lawsuits. >> the chicago case right off the bat, they name erika jayne in their lawsuit. >> one of the lenders owed money by tom girardi claimed in a

lawsuit that tom had given his wife $20 million in loans from girardi keyes, and that money went to erika jayne's entertainment company, e.j. global, llc. >> he was taking money in some cases, it's been alleged, and investing it into erika's business, into her career. and the allegations are that money was coming from clients. >> reporter: so far, the reality star hasn't commented publicly on the allegations. >> when you see "the housewives of beverly hills" and you see erika girardi displaying incredible opulence, it's got to be a dagger to the hearts of those who have had their money stolen. >> reporter: erika jayne's costars have largely lent support, including kyle richards on a recent interview with "entertainment tonight." >> i'm not defending, because i don't know anything. i mean, i don't know. so i'm not going to sit there

and say, i know for a fact so i'm going to defend. no, i don't know, so i'm there to support, not defend. >> do you think that you're likely to see a change in how these perceived? >> i do think we will see a change in how she is perceived. and we're already seeing it. i was just looking through her instagram because she's been posting as usual. and all of a sudden the comments are flooded with people saying, are you not going to address this hulu documentary? are you not going to address any of this? i think that people are now definitely going to demand answers from her. >> our thanks to deborah. you can watch the full documentary "the housewife and the hustler" streaming now on hulu. coming up, the young choreographer with the scandalous moves. your mission: stand up to moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. and take. it. on... with rinvoq. rinvoq a once-daily pill can dramatically improve symptoms...

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♪ you may not have heard of sean bankhead, but you've probably seen his work. he's the man behind some of the most talked about dance scenes chug that one with lil nas x and he's only just started. "nightline's" ashan singh caught up with him. ♪ ♪ call me by her name ♪ >> reporter: it was a performance to remember. lil nas x hitting the stage with leather pants, a stripper pole, and some scandalous dance moves. his musical performance of "montero call me by your name"

on "snl" breaking the norms what was you're used to seeing in the mainstream media. >> we kind of came up with these ideas what if we lifted him up, what if someone licked his neck? we kept saying, yeah, let's do it, why be afraid? >> reporter: the man behind it all -- ♪ don't you wanna put my name on ♪ >> reporter: 32-year-old choreographer sean bankhead. >> it's taken a long time for a performance like lil nas x's to be on a stage like "saturday night live," don't you think? >> it was a first of its kind. i think -- that's all i could keep thinking of, i haven't seen this before. especially with an open black gay artist. >> reporter: you might not recognize him but you've seen his iconic routines. >> i've gotten to this place in my career where i've been able to understand that dance and performance can have an impact on pop culture, on people's lives. >> reporter: one of the industry's biggest dancers, choreographing for stars like cardi b, missy elliott, normani,

and lil nas x. he's working with a new generation of talent while building off pop legends, creating a style all his own. diverse, expressive, and free. do you feel like you're paving a way for young men of color and gay men of color? >> i do know that i've always kind of walked on the unbeaten path myself. i've always kind of done my own thing. >> how old were you when you first realize, i'm a dancer? >> my mother used to tell me stories that she would just be amazed when she would look at me in the car seat, jamming and bopping on beats and music, and she was like, man that kid always had rhythm. >> reporter: from a young age he was inspired by the mtv pop stars of the late '90s and early 2000s. >> i went to learn janet jackson's dances, usher, aaliyah, nsync, britney spears. i've always kind of had rhythm and movement and dance in my body since i was a really young kid. >> reporter: after his family moved to atlanta when sean was a

kid, the dancer quickly found choreography. >> i was doing bat mitzvahs, people's parties, to all of a sudden i got an opportunity to teach a dance class. and there was a representative from bad boy. bad boy came to my class, liked my stuff, was like, can you choreograph a music video? i had never choreographed anything in my life. i was like, yeah, absolutely, i can kill it. >> reporter: his career took off. after working with girl group fifth harmony, he had his first big break choreographing normani for music video "motivation." >> "motivation" was kind of the buries fig thing for me that people really were like, wow. that choreography from start to finish was amazing. ♪ think about it oh think about it ♪ >> reporter: his creative moves quickly spreading from music videos -- to tiktok. where they've become viral trends. >> we just did cardi b up.

we wanted to create a dance that everyone at home could want to learn and could actually learn. ♪ yeah yeah ♪ >> reporter: and at the 2021 diagram he's, choreographing cardi b's eye-popping performance. >> i personally had the fcc on my tail because i choreographed cardi b and megan thee stallion's dance performance. i've been in hot water this whole year. i'm already in trouble, might as well keep going with this. >> you're no stranger to the controversy. >> sadly, it's pop culture, you want those moments. >> reporter: as if he hadn't rocked the both enough already, sean knew he had a chance to really send a message with lil nas x's "snl" performance. >> i always had in mind, if i get my hands on that project, i'm going to really take it to the next level. >> do you feel like he had something different in him that allowed you to sort of tap into such a boundary-pushing choreography? >> he was like, yeah, i want you

to lick on me. yep, i want to sit on his lap. yep, i want to spin on the pole. >> that is' brazenness inspire you in a way? >> absolutely. meeting him, linking with him, we got along so well, two young gay kids from atlanta. i got him, he got me, we had fun. >> cross-representation of two minority groups, a gay man, a black man. tell me about some of the struggles you faced a as a choreographer. >> i ran into a lot of difficult moments. being a young black choreographer. dealing with labels and dealing with management teams and just people underestimating my business and work ethic. a lot of times my white counterparts would get offered more money for the same jonathan i would. >> reporter: nas' performance a triumph over mainstream media where queer and black voices have historically been silenced. do you think we've made any progress? where do you think we stand as far as the conversation goes? >> maybe two steps.

not 50. i think nas doesn't even really, really realize the impact he's having on just a whole generation and pop culture. whether you were openly gay, closeted, anything like that, i still feel lake you were scared to be that risky, be that controversial. because you didn't know what the outcome would be. ♪ five six seven 8 ♪ >> reporter: sean is gearing up for his next big project. continuing to push boundaries on and off the stage. and hoping to inspire a new generation of dancers. >> inspiration is how i got here. so i hope that i can continue to inspire other people to kind of do their own thing. i never really followed behind anybody else or anybody else's rules. >> our thanks to ashan. coming up, why the ducklings crossed the road? in our home, we trust dawn antibacterial.

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♪ finally tonight, why did those ducklings cross the road? the answer is pretty simple.

to get to the bagel shop on the other side. they live in brooklyn, of course. a mother duck led her brood through the streets, several blocks, in fact, crossing a busy road with the help of bystanders who dropped traffic. bagel shop employees lured them out again with a trail of bread crumbs. one man following them back to the park, making sure they got home safe. that's "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here, same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night.