LOS ANGELES—Stormy Daniels' former attorney Michael Avenatti has been charged with fraud and aggravated identity theft for allegedly stealing $300,000 from a book advance that was coming to the Hall of Fame performer, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Prosecutors allege Avenatti used the money on his personal expenses.
In a statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said: “Michael Avenatti abused and violated the core duty of an attorney—the duty to his client. 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 denied the latest allegations on Twitter.
“No monies relating to Ms. Daniels were ever misappropriated or mishandled,” Avenatti tweeted today. “She received millions of dollars worth of legal services and we spent huge sums in expenses. She directly paid only $100.00 for all that she received. I look forward to a jury hearing the evidence.”
“At no time was any money misappropriated or mishandled,” he added in another tweet. “I will be fully exonerated once the relevant emails, contracts, text messages, and documents are presented.”
According to the indictment, Avenatti forged Daniels' signature on a letter to her literary agent, asking the agent to send payments to a bank account that he controlled. Daniels was not identified by name in the indictment—which refers to "Victim-1"—but the timeline makes it clear that she is the client in question, according to reports.
Avenatti in April pleaded not guilty to a 36-count indictment that included charges such as tax- and wire-fraud in California.
