If John weren’t on vacation this week, he would have noted the Daily Beast story reporting that Avenatti brought the defamation lawsuit against President Trump in the name of Stormy Daniels (Stephanie Clifford) without her consent. If true, this represents serious professional misconduct. Stormy Daniels also raised issues regarding the funds Avenatti has raised via crowdfunding in her name. The Daily Beast story rested on this statement from Stormy Daniels:
For months I’ve asked Michael Avenatti to give me accounting information about the fund my supporters so generously donated to for my safety and legal defense. He has repeatedly ignored those requests. Days ago I demanded again, repeatedly, that he tell me how the money was being spent and how much was left. Instead of answering me, without my permission or even my knowledge Michael launched another crowdfunding campaign to raise money on my behalf. I learned about it on Twitter.
I haven’t decided yet what to do about legal representation moving forward. Michael has been a great advocate in many ways. I’m tremendously grateful to him for aggressively representing me in my fight to regain my voice. But in other ways Michael has not treated me with the respect and deference an attorney should show to a client. He has spoken on my behalf without my approval. He filed a defamation case against Donald Trump against my wishes. He repeatedly refused to tell me how my legal defense fund was being spent. Now he has launched a new crowdfunding campaign using my face and name without my permission and attributing words to me that I never wrote or said. I’m deeply grateful to my supporters and they deserve to know their money is being spent responsibly. I don’t want to hurt Michael, but it’s time to set the record straight. The truth has always been my greatest ally.
My goal is the same as it has always been—to stand up for myself and take back my voice after being bullied and intimidated by President Trump and his minions. One way or another I’m going to continue in that fight, and I want everyone who has stood by me to know how profoundly grateful I am for their support.
Avenatti provided this statement to the Daily Beast:
I am and have always been Stormy’s biggest champion. I have personally sacrificed an enormous amount of money, time and energy toward assisting her because I believe in her. I have always been an open book with Stormy as to all aspects of her cases and she knows that. The retention agreement Stormy signed back in February provided that she would pay me $100.00 and that any and all other monies raised via a legal fund would go toward my legal fees and costs. Instead, the vast majority of the money raised has gone toward her security expenses and similar other expenses. The most recent campaign was simply a refresh of the prior campaign, designed to help defray some of Stormy’s expenses.
I don’t see any response in Avenatti’s statement to the question raised about the defamation lawsuit.
The Daily Beast contacted Avenatti to ask about Daniels’ two active funding sites. Avenatti responded: “We reset the page as the focus of the case changed from when we first launched the site.” Asked for a breakdown of expenses, Avenatti commented via email: “The money has gone toward the areas identified on the page. For instance, Stormy’s security detail has cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, especially due to the high level of death threats. The other out-of-pocket costs of the litigation are also extraordinary (and I’m not speaking of attorneys’ fees).”
The Daily Beast reports that the current crowdfunding site was one of one of three highlighted on the site’s homepage as of yesterday afternoon. An earlier site raised more than $580,000 for Daniels’ legal defense and no longer accepts contributions. The site “appears to have removed the latest campaign after publication of this story. A message simply said ‘Page not found.’ Representatives for the site did not immediately return a request for comment.”
I think Ms. Daniels could use a good lawyer.
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