Michael Avenatti is apparently so dishonest that even his own clients can’t trust him.
In a crushing rebuke, former adult film star Stormy Daniels claimed on Wednesday that her lawyer filed a defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump without her knowing and kept her in the dark about a crowdfunding campaign for her legal fund.
Setting the record straight
In a statement provided to The Daily Beast, Daniels expressed frustration with Avenatti for treating her disrespectfully and handling her legal business without her knowledge or consent. She wrote:
For months[,] I’ve asked Michael Avenatti to give me accounting information about the fund my supporters so generously donated to for my safety and legal defense. He has repeatedly ignored those requests. Days ago I demanded again, repeatedly, that he tell me how the money was being spent and how much was left. Instead of answering me, without my permission or even my knowledge[,] Michael launched another crowdfunding campaign to raise money on my behalf. I learned about it on Twitter.
Daniels also said she wasn’t sure whether she would keep Avenatti as a lawyer. “Avenatti has been a great advocate in many ways,” Daniels said, but, “in other ways, Michael has not treated me with the respect and deference an attorney should show to a client.” She went on:
He has spoken on my behalf without my approval. He filed a defamation case against Donald Trump against my wishes. He repeatedly refused to tell me how my legal defense fund was being spent. Now[,] he has launched a new crowdfunding campaign using my face and name without my permission and attributing words to me that I never wrote or said. I’m deeply grateful to my supporters and they deserve to know their money is being spent responsibly. I don’t want to hurt Michael, but it’s time to set the record straight. The truth has always been my greatest ally.
Her “biggest champion”?
In a response to Daniels’ allegations, Avenatti maintained that he was his client’s “biggest champion.” He told the Daily Beast that the crowdfunding money went toward security and out-of-pocket legal costs and denied profiting from the venture.
“I have personally sacrificed an enormous amount of money, time, and energy toward assisting her because I believe in her. I have always been an open book with Stormy as to all aspects of her cases and she knows that,” Avenatti said. He continued:
The retention agreement Stormy signed back in February provided that she would pay me $100.00 and that any and all other monies raised via a legal fund would go toward my legal fees and costs. Instead, the vast majority of the money raised has gone toward her security expenses and similar other expenses. The most recent campaign was simply a refresh of the prior campaign, designed to help defray some of Stormy’s expenses.
The crowdfunding campaign raised $4,785 before being taken down. An earlier fundraiser this year raised $580,000 for Daniels’ legal fees.
The rise and fall of the “creepy porn lawyer”
Avenatti has become a household name because of his representation of Daniels, which critics like Fox host Tucker Carlson — who dubbed him “creepy porn lawyer” — have described as exploitative. Daniels’ recent statements seem to lend credence to claims that Avenatti is treating his client as a pawn for his own ambitions.
Indeed, the “creepy porn lawyer” first shot to celebrity after filing suit to invalidate a $130,000 non-disclosure agreement that Daniels signed with then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen before the 2016 election to not discuss an alleged affair between Daniels and Trump that had occurred years prior. Cohen pleaded guilty in August to paying off Daniels and another woman, Karen McDougal, in violation of campaign finance law.
But the original reasons for the pair’s fame have been largely forgotten amid the never-ending Stormy Daniels saga, which has evolved into a full-blown arm of the “resistance” with the help of the media. Avenatti’s client relationship with Daniels made him a fixture on liberal networks, and before his recent free-fall, he was turning his newfound fame towards hyping a 2020 presidential bid, even touring primary states like Iowa.
Turmoil continues
But that all backfired this fall when he jumped into the Brett Kavanaugh scandal with unfounded allegations of gang rape against the then-Supreme Court nominee from a woman who later backtracked on her claims. Avenatti alienated many on the left with his massively miscalculated allegations, which many say only helped confirm Kavanaugh.
Then came Avennatti’s arrest on suspicion of domestic abuse earlier this month, which dealt a blow to his reputation as a self-described ally of women and abuse victims despite the fact that authorities opted not to prosecute him, and which also led Daniels to distance herself from her lawyer. (Avenatti has said he is still considering a presidential run despite these setbacks.)
The lawyer also suffered a defeat in the courts last month when a Los Angeles federal judge threw out the defamation suit against Trump that Daniels says was brought without her consent. The suit alleged that Trump defamed Daniels for describing a composite sketch of a man who Daniels alleged was sent by Trump to intimidate her in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011 as a “con job.”
The judge threw out the suit and ordered Daniels to pay Trump’s legal fees, which Trump’s attorneys estimated to be about $350,000.
Meanwhile, Avenatti has financial woes of his own; the Daily Beast reported that he owes millions to the IRS in back taxes. And with Stormy’s new statements, the sordid saga of the “creepy porn lawyer” has reached an all-time low.
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