Michael Avenatti Arrested In Extortion Plot Against Nike, Embezzled Client Funds

Tyler Durden by . Update 3: Avenatti’s most famous client revealed in a statement published Monday afternoon that she was “saddened, not shocked” by news of Avenatti’s indictment, adding that she fired him after discovering that he had dealt with her in an “extremely dishonest” way. Stormy Daniels Verified account @StormyDaniels My statement regarding my former attorney Mr. Avenatti.. pic.twitter.com/9aKYCPNN6y

— Stormy Daniels (@StormyDaniels) March 25, 2019

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Update 2 : This is just getting more surreal. A second set of charges allege he embezzled a client’s money in order to pay his own expenses and debts — as well as those of his coffee business and law firm — and also defrauded a bank by using phony tax returns to obtain millions of dollars in loans.

Avenatti also allegedly defrauded a bank in Mississippi by submitting to the lender false tax returns in order to obtain three loans totaling $4.1 million for his law firm and coffee business in 2014. According to the affidavit, Avenatti obtained the loans by submitting fabricated individual income tax returns (Forms 1040) for 2011, 2012, and 2013, reporting substantial income even though he had never filed any such returns with the Internal Revenue Service. The phony returns stated that he earned $4,562,881 in adjusted gross income in 2011, $5,423,099 in 2012, and $4,082,803 in 2013, according to the affidavit. Avenatti allegedly also claimed he paid $1.6 million in estimated tax payments to the IRS in 2012 and paid $1.25 million in 2013. In reality, Avenatti never filed personal income tax returns for 2011, 2012 and 2013 and did not make any estimated tax payments in 2012 and 2013. Instead of the millions of dollars he claimed to have paid in taxes, Avenatti still owed the IRS $850,438 in unpaid personal income tax plus interest and penalties for the tax years 2009 and 2010, court papers state. The affidavit also alleges that, as part of his loan applications, Avenatti also submitted a fictitious partnership tax return for his law firm.

Avenatti reportedly negotiated a $1.6 million settlement on behalf of a client, then turned around and gave the client a “bogus settlement agreement” with a fake date and fake amount. He used the stolen money to pay “expenses” for his coffee business.

That office said “Avenatti misappropriated his client’s settlement money and used it to pay expenses for his coffee business, Global Baristas US LLC, which operated Tully’s Coffee stores in California and Washington state, as well as for his own expenses.” “When the fake March 2018 deadline passed and the client asked where the money was, Avenatti continued to conceal that the payment had already been received, court documents said,” according to prosecutors. “A lawyer has a basic duty not to steal from his client,” said U.S. Attorney for Los Angeles Nick Hanna. “Mr. Avenatti is facing serious criminal charges alleging he misappropriated client trust funds for his personal use and he defrauded a bank by submitting phony tax returns in order to obtain millions of dollars in loans.”

Full complaint here. [More on the Extortion Plot Against Nike]

It’s been a bad few days for the #resistance.

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(TLB) published this article by Tyler Durden from ZeroHedge with our appreciation.

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