NEW YORK — Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti was so strapped for cash in 2018 that he stole from the client who put him on the map: porn star Stormy Daniels, federal prosecutors told a Manhattan jury Monday.
“This is a case about a lawyer who stole from his client,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Rohrbach said during opening arguments.
“You will learn that the defendant was desperate for money.”
The California lawyer is charged with stealing $300,000 of Daniels’ book advance while representing her in lawsuits against former President Donald Trump. Avenatti allegedly used the money to pay off his Ferrari and expenses associated with his law firm and coffee business. He has pleaded not guilty.
Among those in the gallery for opening arguments was Michael Cohen, one of Avenatti’s top adversaries before his spectacular downfall.
Cohen recently completed a three-year sentence for an assortment of crimes, including an illegal $130,000 payment to Daniels to keep quiet about the alleged affair with Trump in the run-up to the 2016 election. The payout was a violation of campaign finance laws.
Avenatti, 50, couldn’t resist taking a shot at Cohen.
“Do you have those Donald Trump kneepads?” Avenatti said.
Cohen did not appear to hear the comment. He told reporters he is now friends with Daniels, who has appeared on his podcast. She is expected to testify against Avenatti on Tuesday.
“I speak to her on a regular basis,” said Cohen. “We’ve actually become friends.”
Both Avenatti and Cohen are disbarred.
Daniels’ tell-all memoir, “Full Disclosure,” detailed her alleged affair with Trump in explicit detail.
Rohrbach, the prosecutor, told the jury Avenatti stole from Daniels by forging a letter to her literary agent directing the book advance be sent to a bank account controlled by Avenatti.
“He was supposed to be her advocate,” said Rohrbach.
In his brief opening statement, Avenatti’s lawyer, federal defender Andrew Dalack, said the case was about a disagreement over money and a disgruntled client — but not a federal crime.
“Ms. Daniels had a motive to lie against Mr. Avenatti. You see, Ms. Daniels had lost one of the cases against Mr. Trump, and she was hit with $300,000 in attorneys’ fees ... But the evidence will show that she didn’t want to pay it and that she blamed Mr. Avenatti for the loss and made up a story about the book deal to get him back and avoid having to pay the judgment herself,” said Dalack.
The attorney mocked Daniels about her new line of work as a TV paranormal investigator on the show “Spooky Babes.”
“At around the same time Ms. Daniels accused Mr. Avenatti of stealing one of her book payments, she began claiming that she could speak with dead people, see inside homes with X-ray vision. That she could interact with a haunted doll named Susan, who walks, talks, plays the piano, and calls her mommy,” said Dalack.
The criminal trial is expected to run through mid-February and marks Avenatti’s third in two years.
He was convicted in January 2020 of a $25 million extortion plot against Nike while representing a youth basketball coach in a lawsuit against the shoe giant. He’s yet to begin serving a 2 1/2-year sentence in that case.
A trial in California for financial crimes and defrauding other clients ended in mistrial.
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