Source: FREDERIC J. BROWN / Getty
Michael Avenatti appeared at one time to be one of the few figures to effectively challenge President Donald Trump’s confidence and bombast. Now, the tough-talking attorney faces another indictment after he was accused of stealing money from former client Stormy Daniels.
TMZ reports:
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York has charged the disgraced attorney with 1 count of wire fraud and 1 count of aggravated identity theft charges. The feds say he fraudulently diverted money the client — Stormy — was owed on a book deal to an account he controlled.
According to prosecutors, he did this by sending a fraudulent letter purporting to contain his client’s signature to Stormy’s literary agent. According to the complaint … Stormy didn’t know the letter existed much less sign off on it.
He allegedly used the money from that account to pay for airfare, hotels, restaurants, meal deliveries and meet payroll for his businesses. In total, he allegedly diverted around $300k … and although he sent her around half that, prosecutors say he hasn’t paid her the balance.
Avenatti immediately denied the charges via his locked Twitter account and believes he’ll be exempt from charges once the facts come out.
—
Photo: Getty
