Michael Avenatti told POLITICO that he's being targeted over his political views. | Seth Wenig/AP Photo Feds target Avenatti over old firm's unpaid taxes U.S. attorney accuses Trump critic of ‘misrepresentations’ and ‘misconduct.’

U.S. government lawyers are slamming one of President Donald Trump's most prominent critics, attorney Michael Avenatti, over nearly half a million dollars in unpaid federal taxes owed by his former firm.

Avenatti's former law firm, Eagan Avenatti LLP, agreed to make the roughly $452,000 tax payment last month in order to resolve a bankruptcy case, but the funds never arrived at the IRS, according to a filing Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana, California.


The submission from tax lawyers in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles attacks Avenatti personally, accusing him of trying to scam the federal government.

"The Debtor and its principle [sic] Michael Avenatti made misrepresentations to the United States that it’s [sic] claim would be fully paid," Assistant U.S. Attorney Najah Shariff wrote. "The misconduct of the Debtor and its responsible office [sic] Michael Avenatti should not be condoned by this Court."

Avenatti told POLITICO that he's being targeted over his political views. He also emphasized that the taxes at issue are owed by the law firm, not him.

"It is politically motivated and they have their facts all wrong. I owe nothing personally," said the pugnacious lawyer, who sprung to national attention earlier this year for his aggressive advocacy on behalf of former porn star Stormy Daniels in her legal showdown with Trump stemming from an alleged sexual encounter in 2006.

Avenatti did not elaborate on the political element he sees in the tax action, but Shariff works for U.S. Attorney Nicola Hanna, a Trump appointee and former federal prosecutor confirmed to the job in April.

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Bankruptcy Judge Catherine Bauer set a hearing on the tax dispute for July 25.

The government's submission says that, in addition to the payment missed last month, the firm faces a deadline to pay a similar sum later this month.

Avenatti has claimed that the underpayment of taxes by the firm largely stemmed from payroll taxes withheld but never sent to the IRS because of an error by a payroll company, the Los Angeles Times reported last month.

A former attorney at the firm Jason Frank obtained a $10-million judgment against the firm last month after it failed to make promised payments to him.

Avenatti is now operating chiefly through another firm, Avenatti & Associates, but seems to have been holding out hope that the former firm will receive enough in legal fees for past cases that it can pay off its debts.