Michael Avenatti Arrested

Michael Avenatti, the one-time legal counsel of Stormy Daniels and celebrity attorney, faced indictment on Thursday, April 11, 2019. His indictment included 36 different counts of embezzlement and fraud. Avenatti faces these charges in the state of California. However, Avenatti may also be facing charges in New York involving more alleged financial wrongdoing against the clothing company Nike. The grand total of all these indictments comes to a maximum sentence of 335 years.

One of these indictments involves a paraplegic man named Geoffrey Johnson. Mr. Johnson won a four million dollar settlement from the County of Los Angeles. Allegedly, Michael drained money from Mr. Johnson’s trust fund in order to start a coffee business.

Fellow Attorneys Denounce Avenatti

Other attorneys have denounced Avenatti for his alleged conduct. “Mr. Johnson is the victim of an appalling fraud perpetrated by the one person who owed him loyalty and honesty most of all: his own lawyer,” said attorney Josh Robbins. “Mr. Avenatti stole millions of dollars that were meant to compensate Mr. Johnson for a devastating injury, spent it on his own lavish lifestyle, then lied about it to Mr. Johnson for years to cover his tracks. His actions have left Mr. Johnson destitute.”

Another attorney, Nick Hanna, had some choice words to say about the ethics expected from a lawyer. According to the LA Times, Hanna thinks that Avenatti’s alleged crimes may be linked to one another. Hanna also said that Avenatti used embezzled funds to pay off the money he owed to other victims.

Avenatti Denies All Allegations

Despite all of this, Michael Avenatti denied all allegations on his Twitter page. Avenatti claimed, “I am entitled to a FULL presumption of innocence and am confident that justice will be done once ALL of the facts are known”. Nick Hanna also said “As an attorney, holding your clients’ money in trust is one of your highest duties. It is Lawyer 101: You do not steal your clients’ money.”

Mr. Johnson may not be the only client that Mr. Avenatti allegedly victimized. There may be as many as four other clients who fell victim to Avenatti. Moreover, he did not pay taxes on any of the stolen money. The initial actions that led to these indictments began as an IRS investigation in September 2016. This investigation involved an attempt to collect on debt from his coffee business.

Further, if these allegations against Mr. Avenatti turn out to be true, not only did he take money from an unwitting client, he took financial security away from a man who had no other way to provide for himself. For Avenatti, it was like taking candy from a baby.