In a flurry of legal activity this week around Stormy Daniels, one of the AVN Hall of Famer’s former lawyers appeared in a New York courtroom on charges that he cheated her out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in advance royalty payments on her 2018 book, Full Disclosure, ABC News reported.
But another of Daniels’ former lawyers fared better, as a judge tossed out her lawsuit against him, as the New York Daily News reported.
With lawyer Michael Avenatti, Daniels last year filed a series of lawsuits against Donald Trump and his then-lawyer and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, over a “hush money” deal to cover up a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006. The lawsuits made the veteran adult video performer and director a national celebrity—but did even more for Avenatti, who almost overnight became a high-profile TV commentator, appearing on dozens, if not hundreds, or television news and interview programs.
But in March of this year, Daniels split with Avenatti, as AVN.com reported, hiring Tulsa, Oklahoma-based litigator Clark Brewster to represent her in future legal matters.
Daniels at the time did not disclose why she had broken with Avenatti, but about two months later, a grand jury indicted Avenatti on multiple fraud-related charges, alleging that the pugnacious attorney supported a jet-setting lifestyle by bilking his clients out of massive sums.
One of those clients was Daniels, with prosecutors charging that Avenatti fraudulently diverted about $300,000 in book advance royalties from Daniels’ publisher into his own, personal bank account.
Avenatti made a brief appearance in a New York City courtroom on Tuesday, where a judge said that she would need until October to decide whether the Daniels fraud case should be shifted to California. She gave Avenatti until August 22 to file a motion stating why he wants the case moved across the country, according to Law.com.
Perhaps prompted by Avenatti’s court appearance, Daniels took to her Twitter account, accusing Avenatti of forging her signature in order to “steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from them, then lie about it for months on end.”
In the tweet, Daniels claimed that she was in possession of the initial contract that she signed with Avenatti, claiming that in that contract Avenatti agreed to take a fee of just $100—which Daniels said she now believed was “grossly overpriced.”
Daniels’ accusations against Avenatti came the day after a judge in Los Angeles ended Daniels lawsuit against Cohen and another of her former lawyers, Keith Davidson, who preceded Avenatti and was responsible for negotiating the “hush money” deal with Trump and Cohen. Daniels, Davidson and Cohen had already reportedly reached a “walk away” deal to settle the suit, with none of the parties owing any money to any of the others.
Photo By Rick Garcia/@IndustryByRick
