Avenatti is the new Obama. Promised Stefanie Clifford free money, but all he gave her was a massive debt. Last Update 4 hours ago Stormy Daniels ordered to pay President Trump $292G in legal fees By Matt Richardson | Fox News Adult film star Stormy Daniels must pay President Trump $293,000 in legal fees, a judge ruled on Tuesday. "The U.S. District Court today ordered Stormy Daniels (real name Stephanie Clifford) to pay President Trump $292,052.33 to reimburse his attorneys’ fees (75% of his total legal bill), plus an additional $1,000 in sanctions to punish Daniels for having filed a meritless lawsuit against the President designed to chill his free speech rights," Charles J. Harder, the president's legal counsel, said in a statement. "The court’s order," Harder said, "along with the court’s prior order dismissing Stormy Daniels’ defamation case against the President, together constitute a total victory for the President, and a total defeat for Stormy Daniels in this case." Attorneys for President Trump had asked a court earlier this month for nearly $800,000 in lawyers’ fees and penalties from Daniels for the failed defamation lawsuit against him. Harder defended more than 500 hours his firm spent that rang up a nearly $390,000 legal bill for the president and asked for an equal amount in sanctions as a deterrent against a “repeat filer or frivolous defamation cases.” Daniels alleged she had a one-night affair with Trump in 2006. She sued him earlier this year seeking to break a non-disclosure agreement she signed days before the 2016 election about the alleged affair as part of a $130,000 hush money settlement. Trump has strongly denied the affair took place. Despite the deal to stay quiet, Daniels spoke out publicly and alleged that five years after the alleged affair she was threatened to keep quiet by a man she did not recognize in a Las Vegas parking lot. She also released a composite sketch of the mystery man. She sued Trump for defamation after he responded to the allegation by tweeting: “A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!” Daniels' lawsuit against Trump was tossed out of court in October, with U.S. District Judge S. James Otero citing free-speech grounds. "The court agrees with Mr. Trump’s argument because the tweet in question constitutes ‘rhetorical hyperbole’ normally associated with politics and public discourse in the U.S.,” Otero said at the time. “The First Amendment protects this type of rhetorical statement.” “The ruling also states that the President is entitled to an award of his attorneys’ fees against Stormy Daniels,” Harder said in a statement to Fox News following the judge's order. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/stormy-daniels-ordered-to-pay-president-trump-292g-in-legal-fees
Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison http://time.com/5477719/michael-cohen-sentenced-prison/
Judge hints Stormy Daniels' lawsuit against Trump could be tossed By Samuel Chamberlain | Fox News A federal judge in Los Angeles appeared inclined Tuesday to toss out a lawsuit against President Trump by adult film star Stormy Daniels seeking to tear up an agreement that paid her $130,000 in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual relationship with Trump more than a decade ago. Lawyers for Trump and his onetime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, agreed to rescind the settlement agreement with Daniels, then asked U.S. District Judge S. James Otero to dismiss the lawsuit. Otero did not rule on the request, but seemed to agree that Daniels no longer had grounds to sue. "It seems you've achieved ... what you sought to achieve," Otero said. "They admitted what we said all along," Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti told reporters after the hearing. "So any attempt by anyone to claim that this is not a victory for Stormy Daniels is completely bogus and nonsense and dishonest. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, brought the lawsuit to free herself from the agreement she'd signed to keep from telling her story late in the 2016 presidential campaign. Cohen arranged the payment and later pleaded guilty to campaign violations after admitting the deal was struck to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton. Trump has denied the alleged affair with Daniels, which she says happened in 2006, the year after he married Melania Trump. Daniels had claimed the agreement was not valid because Trump's signature was not on it, and the president's lawyer has said he was never a party to the settlement. Despite appearing to get what Daniels originally sought -- dismissal of the agreement she'd disregarded long ago in speaking to news media and writing a book -- Avenatti, who once toyed with challenging Trump for the presidency, fought hard to keep the case alive. He argued the case should continue because he wanted to take sworn statements from Trump and Cohen. He also plans to ask for legal fees.
Are you saying the Trump paid $130,000 for a non discloser agreement for an alleged affair that never happened? Would you do that? I sure as hell wouldn't.
Feds seize $4.5 million Avenatti plane amid tax scandal By William La Jeunesse, Paulina Dedaj | Fox News Michael Avenatti's jet seized from Santa Barbara airport LOS ANGELES – Embattled lawyer Michael Avenatti was the subject of a federal warrant Wednesday that resulted in the seizure of his private jet, worth about $4.5 million. A U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman, Thom Mrozek, confirmed to Fox News that federal agents seized a Honda HA-420 twin-engine jet from Santa Barbara Airport about 10 a.m. after a federal judge issued a warrant. The plane was originally scheduled to be flown Wednesday to Orange County on Avenatti's behalf, but pilots had to file a new flight plan to San Bernardino County. A U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman, Thom Mrozek, confirmed to Fox News that federal agents seized a Honda HA-420 twin-engine jet from Santa Barbara Airport about 10 a.m. after a federal judge issued a warrant. (William La Jeunesse/Lee Ross) “Federal authorities have seized a jet co-owned by Mr. Avenatti pursuant to a seizure warrant issued by a federal judge. This seizure is related to the pending criminal case in Los Angeles,” a federal official told Fox News. MICHAEL AVENATTI LIVED LUXURY LIFE WHILE AVOIDING PAYING TAXES FOR A DECADE, SAYS FEDERAL TAX AUTHORITIES The six-seat business jet was flown by a private contract pilot to Chino Municipal Airport, where it is being held by Threshold Aviation. Federal court records indicated that the plane, bought on Jan. 30, 2017, was registered to Passport 420, a company co-owned by Avenatti. A government complaint obtained by Fox News said Avenatti’s wife, Lisa-Storie Avenatti, said he owned two private jets -- one through Avenatti & Associates and the other through Passport 420 -- and that each had a value of $4.5 million. The warrant under which the plane was seized was under seal; Avenatti was accused last month of failing to pay income taxes for almost a decade despite making $18 million since 2010. Officials are also looking at his firm, which is said to have recorded $38 million in deposits but filed no tax returns. Prosecutors did not disclose if the jet was seized to satisfy a judgment, or in connection with nonpayment of taxes. Avenatti, who previously represented adult-film star Stormy Daniels in litigation against President Trump, has also been charged with wire and bank fraud in California. And federal prosecutors in New York accused the lawyer of attempting to extort about $25 million from Nike “by threatening to use his ability to garner publicity to inflict substantial financial and reputational harm on the company if his demands were not met.” After repeated social media attacks on Trump and his former attorney Michael Cohen, Avenatti hinted that he would consider a run for the 2020 presidential election on the Democratic ticket. Avenatti has since put to rest rumors of a bid for the White House and has ended his contract with Daniels.
Poor guy. They caught him before he could swing a bigger jet. A Honda is probably ok but I never heard a rap song about one. Sir MixALot doesn't count.
He'll die in prison for certain. Or live to be 400 years old. Michael Avenatti is indicted on 36 federal charges “Money generated from one set of crimes was used to further other crimes,” prosecutors say. By Emily Stewart Apr 11, 2019, 2:20pm EDT Celebrity attorney Michael Avenatti is in legal hot water yet again, this time facing perhaps his most serious criminal charges yet:a 36-count federal indictment alleging that he stole millions of dollars from his clients, skirted taxes, and committed wire fraud, perjury, and a number of other financial crimes. The 61-page Justice Department indictment lays out an alleged scheme Avenatti conducted starting in 2015 to defraud five clients, where he would secure major settlements and then lie to clients about the terms. He would instead put the money in accounts he controlled and then “embezzle and misappropriate” the funds. Prosecutors allege Avenatti would “lull the client to prevent the client from discovering” his activities. He would tell them payments hadn’t been made yet, or were in installments instead of a lump sum. One of the clients is a paraplegic man who was granted a $4 million settlement payment from Los Angeles County in January 2015. Avenatti allegedly had the money deposited into a trust for the client he controlled but did not disclose that the payment had been made. He paid his client in installments of about $1,000 to $1,900 over more than three years, totaling $124,000, and told the client that payments to assisted living facilities where he lived were “advances” of the settlement. Because of Avenatti’s activity, the client couldn’t buy a house he wanted, and he lost Social Security benefits because Avenatti failed to respond for him. Meanwhile, prosecutors say, Avenatti transferred the money to other accounts, including personal ones. Prosecutors placed the charges into four buckets: wire fraud, tax fraud, bank fraud, and bankruptcy fraud. They allege that on top of defrauding clients, Avenatti failed to file personal tax returns and hid his coffee company’s income, failed to pay payroll taxes for the employees of his coffee company, submitted phony tax returns to secure loans from a Mississippi bank, and lied about his income after filing for bankruptcy, among other allegations. “Money generated from one set of crimes was used to further other crimes,” said Nick Hanna, a US attorney for the Central District of California, in a press conference on Thursday outlining the charges. Hanna said Avenatti (who’s recently become known for his anti-Trump posturing)would use money taken from his clients to finance his coffee business, his auto racing enterprise, and his lifestyle. In one instance, Avenatti allegedly used money from a client settlement to pay for his portion of a private jet. (The jet was seized Wednesday.) Hanna said Avenatti’s schemes were an attempt to keep his “financial house of cards from collapsing.” Some of the charges against Avenatti were announced in March. If convicted of the 36 charges outlined on Thursday, Avenatti could face 333 years in federal prison plus an additional two-year mandatory sentence for an identity theft charge. He is scheduled to be arraigned on April 29 in the US District Court in Santa Ana, California. But that’s not the extent of his legal troubles. The IRS is also conducting an ongoing investigation into Avenatti’s tax practices. “The financial investigation conducted by the IRS details a man who allegedly failed to meet his obligations to the government, stole from his clients, and used his ill-gotten gains to support his racing team, the ownership of Tully’s coffee shops, and a private jet,” acting Special Agent in Charge Ryan L. Korner with IRS Criminal Investigation in Los Angeles said in a statement outlining the charges. “Individuals who intentionally thwart the IRS and fail to meet their tax obligations will be caught and they will be held accountable.” Avenatti says this is just the big guns out to get him Avenatti, who never shies away from the spotlight, posted a series of tweets before the charges were released on Thursday, proclaiming his innocence and casting the charges as an effort by his “powerful enemies” to take him down. “I intend to fully fight all charges and plead NOT GUILTY,” he wrote. He also tweeted Theodore Roosevelt’s famous “man in the arena” quote. For 20 years, I have represented Davids vs. Goliaths and relied on due process and our system of justice. Along the way, I have made many powerful enemies. I am entitled to a FULL presumption of innocence and am confident that justice will be done once ALL of the facts are known. — Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 11, 2019 I intend to fully fight all charges and plead NOT GUILTY. I look forward to the entire truth being known as opposed to a one-sided version meant to sideline me. — Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 11, 2019 Avenatti also tweeted about one of the clients listed in the indictment. The LA Times identified the paraplegic man whom Avenatti allegedly kept the $4 million settlement from as Geoffrey Ernest Johnson, who sued Los Angeles County over his treatment at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility. While jailed there, Johnson, who was suicidal, jumped from an upper floor and injured himself. On Thursday, Avenatti tweeted out a “client testimonial approval” he says Johnson signed less than a month ago “attesting to my ethics and how this case was handled.” Any claim that any monies due clients were mishandled is bogus nonsense. By way of example only (there are MANY more like this), here is a document Mr. Johnson signed less than a month ago attesting to my ethics and how his case was handled. I look forward to proving my innocence pic.twitter.com/tWL1aIuPy0 — Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 11, 2019 Avenatti just can’t keep out of legal hot water Avenatti rose to public prominence as the attorney for Stormy Daniels, the porn actress whom Donald Trump’s lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen paid off ahead of the 2016 election in order to keep her from speaking out about an affair she says she had with Trump in 2006. He became a media fixture and was eager to bask in the attention. He frequently criticized the president on television and on Twitter and even flirted with a potential 2020 presidential bid. Avenatti inserted himself into the confirmation hearings of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, representing a woman who claimed that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted girls in high school and that he was at a party where she was assaulted. The FBI did not consider her claims to be credible. But most recently, Avenatti has been in the headlines for his own legal troubles. In March, federal prosecutors in New York arrested him for allegedly attempting to extort more than $20 million from Nike. Prosecutors said Avenatti threatened to hold a press conference revealing “allegations of misconduct by employees of Nike” the night before Nike’s quarterly earnings call if the company didn’t pay him and his client, a former Amateur Athletic Union basketball coach, millions of dollars. According to prosecutors, in a phone call with Nike’s attorneys, Avenatti said he would take “10 billion dollars” off of the athletic apparel company’s market cap if they didn’t comply. “I’m not fucking around,” he said. In the New York case, Avenatti was released on $300,000 bond, and if convicted of those charges, he could face 47 years in prison. That would be on top of the more than 300 years the California charges could carry. https://www.vox.com/2019/4/11/18306437/michael-avenatti-indictment-clients-press-conference
Michael Avenatti Indicted For Allegedly Stealing Paraplegic Client's Settlement Money April 11, 20193:05 PM ET Merrit Kennedy Updated at 6:06 p.m. ET Celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti, who is already accused of federal financial crimes, has been indicted on 36 counts of embezzlement and fraud by a California federal grand jury, U.S. prosecutors announced Thursday. If Avenatti is found guilty of all charges in the new indictment, he could be sentenced to a maximum of 335 years in prison. The lawyer had a rapid rise to fame, most prominently representing Stormy Daniels in the adult film actress's case against President Trump. He was a regular guest on cable news programs and even floated a Democratic presidential campaign, during which he told crowds: "I say, 'When they go low, we hit harder.' " Now prosecutors allege that Avenatti stole millions of dollars from his clients. Those clients include "Client 1," a man who is paraplegic and who won a $4 million settlement from Los Angeles County. Prosecutors allege Avenatti drained money from the man's trust account and used the money to finance a coffee business and pay other expenses. "More than four years later, Client 1 is still waiting to receive his portion of the settlement," U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said at a news conference in Los Angeles. According to court documents, prosecutors say Avenatti would occasionally send Client 1 "advance" payments that didn't exceed $1,900. He also allegedly undermined his paraplegic client's attempt to buy a house and jeopardized his Social Security payments by failing to file paperwork. In an emailed statement, law firm Greenberg Gross LLP identified Client 1 as a man named Geoffrey Johnson. "Mr. Johnson is the victim of an appalling fraud perpetrated by the one person who owed him loyalty and honesty most of all: his own lawyer," said attorney Josh Robbins. "Mr. Avenatti stole millions of dollars that were meant to compensate Mr. Johnson for a devastating injury, spent it on his own lavish lifestyle, then lied about it to Mr. Johnson for years to cover his tracks. His actions have left Mr. Johnson destitute." Avenatti denied the allegations in posts on Twitter. "I am entitled to a FULL presumption of innocence and am confident that justice will be done once ALL of the facts are known," he wrote. "I intend to fully fight all charges and plead NOT GUILTY. I look forward to the entire truth being known as opposed to a one-sided version meant to sideline me." In addition to Client 1, Hanna said, Avenatti followed a similar pattern with four other clients. "Mr. Avenatti received the money on behalf of clients and simply took the money to finance his businesses and personal expenses," Hanna said. In one of those instances, he said, Avenatti took some $2.5 million of a client's settlement money and put it toward a private jet. "As an attorney, holding your clients' money in trust is one of your highest duties. It is Lawyer 101: You do not steal your clients' money," said Hanna. Avenatti is accused of failing to pay income taxes — in fact, the federal probe that led to Thursday's indictment began as an IRS investigation in September 2016 as officials were trying to collect debts from Avenatti's coffee business, Tully's Coffee. "The indictment paints the picture of an individual who began to run afoul with the IRS nearly a decade ago," Ryan Korner, acting special agent in charge with the IRS' Criminal Investigation division, told reporters. Prosecutors also accuse Avenatti of filing fraudulent applications to a bank in Mississippi to obtain $4.1 million in loans and making false statements when his firm was facing bankruptcy proceedings. The alleged crimes "are all linked to one another because money generated from one set of crimes appears in the other sets — typically in the form of payments to lull victims and to prevent Mr. Avenatti's financial house of cards from collapsing," said Hanna. Avenatti is scheduled to be arraigned on April 29 in federal court in Orange County, Calif., the prosecutor's office said. In March, Avenatti was arrested in New York on separate federal charges and then freed on $300,000 bond. As NPR's Carrie Johnson reported, authorities "say he tried to extract more than $20 million from shoe giant Nike by threatening to use his ability to attract public attention if the company failed to meet his financial demands." After the charges were announced last month, Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, said in a statement that she was "saddened but not shocked." "I made the decision more than a month ago to terminate Michael's services after discovering that he had dealt with me extremely dishonestly and there will be more announcements to come," she said. https://www.npr.org/2019/04/11/7122...edly-stealing-paraplegic-clients-settlement-m
dems some strong words dude...dey're talkin' bout a lawyer here just fired by a porn star stripper! woooooooooooo….scary dem folks
I think you should shift your attention from the Democrats and toward Nike. Don't mess with the giant.
Dems favorite creepy woman-beating porn lawyer just keeps losing... Michael Avenatti indicted on charges of defrauding ex-client Stormy Daniels, identity theft By Samuel Chamberlain | Fox News Embattled attorney Michael Avenatti was charged by federal prosecutors in New York Wednesday with defrauding adult-film star Stormy Daniels, the client who propelled Avenatti into the national spotlight. Avenatti, 48, faces one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. He faces up to 22 years in prison if convicted of those charges. According to prosecutors, Avenatti stole "a significant portion" of an advance Daniels was supposed to receive from a book deal by sending a doctored letter with Daniels' signature to her literary agent that instructed the agent to divert the money to an account controlled by Avenatti. The lawyer then spent the money -- $148,750 -- "on airfare, hotels, car services, restaurants and meal delivery, online retailers, payroll for his law firm and another business he owned, and insurance." The indictment says that after Daniels asked Avenatti why she had not received the money, Avenatti falsely claimed he was still trying to extract the payment from the publisher. Weeks later, the lawyer allegedly "used funds recently received from another source" to pay Daniels the money she was owed. "Michael Avenatti abused and violated the core duty of an attorney – the duty to his client," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement. "As alleged, he used his position of trust to steal an advance on the client’s book deal. As alleged, he blatantly lied to and stole from his client to maintain his extravagant lifestyle, including to pay for, among other things, a monthly car payment on a Ferrari. Far from zealously representing his client, Avenatti, as alleged, instead engaged in outright deception and theft, victimizing rather than advocating for his client."
Avenatti did something sleazy? How shocking. Good thing you posted this because I was about to hire him to take care of some parking tickets.
Michael Avenatti's bad day: Disgraced lawyer to face not 1, but 2 arraignments By Samuel Chamberlain | Fox News Embattled attorney Michael Avenatti will have a busy day in Manhattan federal court Tuesday -- but as a defendant, not as counsel. Avenatti, 49, is scheduled to be arraigned on charges that he tried to extort up to $25 million from athletic apparel giant Nike by threatening to expose claims that the shoemaker paid off high school basketball players to steer them to Nike-sponsored colleges. He also is scheduled to be arraigned on charges that he stole nearly $300,000 from adult film actress Stormy Daniels, the client who rocketed him to national prominence. In the Nike case, Avenatti is charged with one count of extortion, one count of sending interstate communications with intent to extort and two counts of conspiracy. In the Stormy Daniels case, he is charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. If convicted on all counts, Avenatti could face a total of 69 years in prison. MICHAEL AVENATTI INDICTED ON CHARGES OF DEFRAUDING EX-CLIENT STORMY DANIELS, IDENTITY THEFT Avenatti repeatedly has denied any wrongdoing and is expected to plead not guilty to all charges. He initially was arrested on March 25 at a New York law firm where he had scheduled a meeting with Nike executives. Six days earlier, prosecutors said, Avenatti and a co-conspirator identified by several news outlets as celebrity attorney Mark Geragos met with attorneys for Nike on March 19 and "threatened to release damaging information" if the company did not agree to make multi-million dollar payments to them, as well as an additional $1.5 million payment to a California youth basketball coach Avenatti claimed to represent. How the media enabled Avenatti Lawyer charged with stealing $300,000 from Stormy Daniels. According to the government, Avenatti threatened to hold a news conference on the eve of Nike's quarterly earnings call and the start of the NCAA tournament to announce allegations of misconduct by Nike employees, at one point telling Nike's lawyers he would "take ten billion dollars off your client's market cap... I'm not f---ing around." MICHAEL AVENATTI ACCUSED OF TRYING TO EXTORT NIKE FOR UP TO $25M, FEDS SAY Avenatti was indicted formally in the Nike matter this past Wednesday. That same day, prosecutors indicted him in the Daniels case, in which they claimed Avenatti stole two payments totaling $297,500 from an advance Daniels was supposed to receive from a book deal in the summer of 2018. Court documents said Avenatti gave Daniels' literary agent a doctored letter with her signature directing the agent to divert the money to an account controlled by Avenatti. The lawyer then allegedly spent the money "on airfare, hotels, car services, restaurants and meal delivery, online retailers, payroll for his law firm and another business he owned, and insurance." The indictment said that after Daniels asked Avenatti why she had not received the first payment, Avenatti falsely claimed he was still trying to extract the money from the publisher. Weeks later, the lawyer allegedly "used funds recently received from another source" to pay Daniels the amount she was owed -- $148,750. MICHAEL AVENATTI PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN FEDERAL WIRE FRAUD, BANK FRAUD CASE Soon after, prosecutors said Avennatti received another payment of $148,750 from Daniels' agent and used the money on personal expenses, including a lease payment on a Ferrari. When Daniels asked for the remaining money, Avenatti allegedly misled her to believe that the book's publisher was refusing to pay the amount to Daniels' literary agent. Avenatti's legal issues have been daunting, but his troubles are not limited to New York. In March, federal prosecutors in Southern California accused Avenatti of committing bank fraud and wire fraud by embezzling settlement money from five clients, including a paraplegic man, to pay personal expenses and debts — as well as those of his coffee business and law firm. According to U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna, Avenatti also obtained $4.1 million in loans from a Mississippi bank by using fraudulent tax returns stating he made more than $14 million between 2011 and 2013 and had paid more than $1 million in estimated taxes to the IRS in 2012 and 2013. In fact, investigators said, Avenatti owed the IRS $850,438 plus interest and penalties for the years 2009 and 2010, paid no personal income taxes for 2011, 2012 and 2013 and paid no estimated taxes in 2012 and 2013. If convicted of all 36 counts in the California case, Avenatti faces up to 335 years in prison.
