Politics

Michael Avenatti Could Be Having The Worst Day Of His Life

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Kevin Daley Supreme Court correspondent
Font Size:

Monday was an ugly day for Michael Avenatti, the pugnacious attorney and potential presidential contender representing adult film actress Stephanie Clifford in her civil suit against President Donald Trump.

Just about an hour after a California judge ordered Avenatti to pay out $4.85 million to his former law partner, a second court evicted the Eagan Avenatti law firm from its offices in Newport Beach for failure to pay rent. Avenatti was not present for either proceeding.

The dispute with Avenatti’s former partner, Jason Frank, arose in 2016, when Frank alleged Avenatti misled his associates about the firm’s profits, cheating other lawyers of money they were owed. Frank sought millions in unpaid compensation through private arbitration.

Eagan Avenatti settled with Frank for $4.85 million in spring 2018, to be paid over two installments in May and July. Avenatti himself guaranteed the payments. The firm failed to transmit the money, however, so a bankruptcy court entered a $10 million judgment against it.

Monday’s order in California court ensures Frank will collect the $4.85 million he was guaranteed in the settlement from Avenatti personally.

“He’s managed to delay this for ages,” Frank attorney Eric George told the Associated Press. “At the end of the day, this is money that’s owed. No matter how you try to spin it, it comes back to the fact that he took money, it wasn’t his and now there’s a judgment saying it’s owed to my client.”

In turn, Avenatti has accused Frank of fraud on the order of $12 million, and says Monday’s award should be deducted from the damages Frank owes him.

“We look forward to receiving our net check for over $7 million from Mr. Frank,” Avenatti told The Daily Caller News Foundation, though he declined to specify how he will proceed. (RELATED: Plot Twist: Now Michael Avenatti Is Getting Sued By A Sex Icon)

The second matter related to late rental payments on Eagan Avenatti’s sleek ocean view offices in southern California. The proprietor says the firm is four months late on rent, totaling $213,254, according to the Los Angeles Times. Monday’s order evicts the practice from the space.

Eagan Avenatti said in court filings it financed repairs to the office, which should be credited toward rent, the LA Times reported. Avenatti now operates under the trade name Avenatti and Associates. During a July 25 bankruptcy hearing, Avenatti testified that his new practice owns 100 percent of the equity in his old firm. He told TheDCNF Monday that “Avenatti and Associates no longer has any interest in [Eagan Avenatti].”

Michael Avenatti attends the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding in Clear Lake, Iowa, U.S., August 10, 2018. REUTERS/KC McGinnis

Michael Avenatti attends the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding in Clear Lake, Iowa, U.S., August 10, 2018. REUTERS/KC McGinnis

TheDCNF has previously reported that Avenatti’s past commercial and legal ventures are replete with “lawsuits, jilted business partners and bankruptcy filings.” After TheDCNF’s reporting was published, Avenatti threatened to sue.

Avenatti’s professional conduct also earned rebukes from a federal judge, after he attempted to intervene in a federal criminal investigation of former Trump-fixer Michael Cohen. U.S. District Court Judge Kimba Wood suggested that Avenatti compromised Cohen’s right to a fair trial by denigrating him in the press, in violation of local rules on legal practice.

While the eviction and Frank settlement were disposed of in state court Monday, Avenatti had been slated to appear at a campaign phone bank for the Rockingham County Democratic Committee in Exeter, New Hampshire, his third visit to the state since August. Several days earlier on Oct. 15, he visited South Carolina, another early primary state in the presidential election cycle.

Follow Kevin on Twitter

Send tips to kevin@dailycallernewsfoundation.org

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel