Avenatti Claims ‘Vindictive Prosecution’ in Stormy Daniels Case

Michal Avenatti, the previously obscure, 48-year-old California lawyer who suddenly became a fixture on cable news last year—thanks to the lawsuit against Donald Trump filed by his most famous client, AVN Hall of Famer Stormy Daniels—now says that the legal troubles that brought his high-flying run of fame to a screeching halt are actually the work of his “very, very powerful enemies,” according to an Associated Press report on Tuesday.  Among several other serious allegations, Avenatti faces charges that he swindled Daniels out of nearly $300,000 in advance royalties for her 2018 memoir, Full Disclosure, as AVN.com reported.  On Tuesday, a judge in a New York City federal court set a date of April 21 for Avenatti to face trial on the embezzling charges in the Daniels case. But Avenatti’s own lawyer, Dean Steward, told Judge Deborah Batts that he will file a motion to delay the trial because, he said, Avenatti is the victim of a railroad job by Trump and his cronies, including Attorney General William Barr, whom Steward slammed as a “lap dog” for Trump.  The lawyer for Avenatti told Judge Batts that he would show that his client was the victim of “vindictive prosecution” by Trump and Barr’s Justice U.S. Department, and as a result, the Daniels embezzlement case should be dismissed, The Hill reported.  Avenatti is accused of fraudulently persuading the publisher of Daniels book, St. Martin’s Press—which is owned by the German conglomerate Holtzbrinck Publishing Group—to wire almost $300,000 of Daniels’ book advance into a private bank account that he controlled.  Avenatti then dipped into the cash to support his jet-setting lifestyle, prosecutors allege. Avenatti, for his part, has now sued Daniels, claiming that she stiffed him on his legal fees. In late September, Daniels settled a lawsuit against the Columbus, Ohio, police department over her “improper” arrest in July of 2018, as AVN.com reported. Daniels won $450,000 in the settlement, and now Avenatti says in his lawsuit that the settlement money should go straight to him. Photo via Michael Avenatti Facebook