Almost as soon as AVN Hall of Famer Stormy Daniels won a $450,000 settlement in September from Columbus, Ohio, over her wrongful arrest by vice cops there in July of 2018, lawyers lined up to get their hands on Daniels’ cash.
First, it was lawyers for Donald Trump, who say that Daniels owes them nearly $300,000 as a result of a defamation lawsuit she filed against Trump that was thrown out of court. But Daniels filed her own counterclaim, asking a court to rule the Trump attempt to grab her cash “null and void.”
On Tuesday of this week, Daniels’ own lawyers put in their own claim to get paid out of the Daniels award, which was authorized by the Columbus city council in November. According to an Associated Press report, Daniels’ attorneys filed papers telling a judge that they should get paid first—and that their claim on the money is “superior” to the Trump lawyers’ claim.
Daniels was arrested during a performance at a Columbus strip club on July 11, 2018, in a vice squad “sting.” But the charges of making physical contact with a customer—an undercover female vice cop, as it turned out—were dismissed less than 24 hours later. Some of the officers involved were soon revealed to be vocal supporters of Trump, lending support to Daniels’ claim that she was targeted for arrest by politically motivated police officers.
She sued Columbus for $2 million over the bust, but in September of this year agreed to a $450,000 settlement offer from the city. Several of the officers involved in her arrest were disciplined, and the Columbus vice unit was disbanded over a series of police misconduct scandals, including the Daniels arrest.
An internal police investigation found that the arrest was “improper,” but stopped short of confirming that it was motivated by politics. Daniels at the time was embroiled in a high-profile lawsuit against Trump over a “hush money” deal intended to keep her quiet about a 2006 sexual encounter with the then-reality TV star.
Daniels' former lawyer Michael Avenatti, who now faces criminal charges alleging that he embezzled almost $300,000 from her, also filed a claim against her Columbus settlement, for what he said were unpaid attorneys fees.
Avenatti’s claim has since been withdrawn, according to the AP report.
Photo By Adam Bielawski / Wikimedia Commons
