Recently Michael Avenatti took a break from fighting Donald Trump to face his own legal issues as accusations of domestic violence were lobbed his way.
His most famous client notably did not stand in total solidarity with her lawyer.
Stormy Daniels‘ statement at the time promised to “reserve judgment” but concluded by saying:
“…if these allegations prove true I will be seeking new representation.”
It was the first crack we’d seen in a rock solid attorney-client relationship whose work together has been largely vindicated by Michael Cohen pleading guilty to campaign finance violations and naming the President as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Related: Cohen Recalls Trump’s 4 Most Racist Private Statements
While Avenatti has now been cleared of felony domestic abuse charges, the division with Daniels has only grown.
On Wednesday Stormy released a statement to the The Daily Beast accusing Avenatti of holding back information from her AND going forward with the defamation lawsuit — their only loss against Team Trump so far — against her wishes.
That is extremely unethical for an attorney; if she sued him for malpractice it could even get him disbarred!
See her complete statement — as well as a response (below)!
“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.
I haven’t decided yet what to do about legal representation moving forward. Michael has been a great advocate in many ways. I’m tremendously grateful to him for aggressively representing me in my fight to regain my voice. But in other ways Michael has not treated me with the respect and deference an attorney should show to a client. 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.
My goal is the same as it has always been—to stand up for myself and take back my voice after being bullied and intimidated by President Trump and his minions. One way or another I’m going to continue in that fight, and I want everyone who has stood by me to know how profoundly grateful I am for their support.”
The Daily Beast reached out to Avenatti with the statement, and he responded by denying he has held back financial information — because what has been set up was all part of their arrangement.
In fact, he’s saying the money has gone more toward her rising personal security costs “especially due to the high level of death threats”:
“I am and have always been Stormy’s biggest champion. 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. 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.”
One of the three crowdfunding campaigns raised over $580,000.
Avenatti claims he has not actually “received a dime in attorneys’ fees” despite his firm spending “over a thousand hours of attorney time” on the case, “a value of over $1,500,000.”
Oof! More bad news for Avenatti.
Something tells us Trump won’t call this story fake news…
What do YOU make of it all, Perezcious readers??
[Image via ITV/Sheri Determan/WENN.]
Related Posts
