Bethenny Frankel says she's known about 'Real Housewives' star Erika Jayne and Tom Girardi's money problems since 2017

• Bethenny Frankel said she's known about Erika Jayne and Tom Girardi's financial troubles for years.
• Frankel said her ex-fiancé told her that Girardi owed him "half-a-million dollars."
• Jayne and Girardi have been accused of embezzling millions to fund their lavish lifestyle.

When the news first broke about Tom Girardi's legal and financial woes, many of Erika Jayne's "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" costars were shocked by the scandal.

But Bethenny Frankel, who previously starred on the "Real Housewives of New York City," has claimed that she knew about the high-profile attorney's money problems as early as 2017.

Jayne and Girardi - who split in November - have repeatedly found themselves in the headlines over the last year after Girardi was accused of embezzling millions of dollars from the widows and orphans of plane-crash victims to fund his and Jayne's lavish lifestyle.

Frankel said it was her ex-fiancé Dennis Shields, who died in 2018, who first told her Girardi "owes everybody money."

"Dennis said to me, 'He doesn't have it like that. He owes me half-a-million dollars. I know this other guy he owes a million-and-a-half dollars. He doesn't have money,'" Frankel said on Thursday's episode of her podcast "Just B."

Frankel said Shields, who also worked in the legal industry, claimed that Girardi was using money from his law firm, Girardi Keese, to support Jayne's lifestyle.

"I said, 'Why would he do that?' He goes, 'He can't say no to her,'" Frankel added.

According to recent court documents, a bankruptcy trustee found that Girardi had transferred $20 million in loans from his law firm to Jayne's company, EJ Global.

Girardi Keese filed for bankruptcy in December and began auctioning off all of its physical assets, including lacy red lingerie, in August to help pay off creditors.

Frankel said Girardi's money problems were a "widely known best-kept secret" in the legal world, and that she told Bravo host Andy Cohen about them back in 2017.

When the news broke in December, she claims Cohen called her and said: "You really do know it all. You told me about this years ago."