America’s favorite “Creepy porn lawyer” is having a rough few weeks.
Last month, a judge ordered Los Angeles attorney Michael Avenatti to pay a former employee nearly $5 million in unpaid wages. The next day, the Daily Beast pasted Avenatti, detailing his irresponsible spending habits that included rides on private jets and stays in five-star hotels. But perhaps worst of all, Avenatti was arrested earlier this week on a felony domestic violence charge following an alleged altercation with an unknown woman.
The woman, initially identified as Avenatti’s wife, though that was later determined not to be true, has yet to be identified. But Avenatti, who says he’s still considering a run for the Democratic nomination in 2020, has vehemently denied the charges. Meanwhile, porn actress Stormy Daniels, Avenatti’s star client, has said she would “seek new representation” if Avenatti is proven guilty.
And to that list of woes, we can now add one more: According to the Los Angeles Times, Avenatti lost an appeal on Friday to stop his former law firm from being evicted from its Newport Beach offices. Avenatti’s (soon-to-be former) landlord sued for eviction after his firm, Eagan Avenatti, missed $213,254 in rent payments over four months. The firm now has until 6 am on Nov. 1 to vacate the building. However, Avenatti skipped the hearing, just like he had skipped an October hearing where the eviction order was initially handed down.
When approached by the media, Avenatti tried to spin the eviction as a “non event”, even as he argued in court that he had an oral agreement with his landlord to retain the space for his new firm, Avenatti & Associates.
Asked about the eviction order in an email, Avenatti responded, “It does not matter as Eagan Avenatti, my former firm, was already in the process of moving. A non-event.”
On Oct. 31, Avenatti asked the court to stop the eviction, saying Avenatti & Associates, another entity that he owns, had an “oral rental agreement with the landlord” that must be honored.
The landlord denied there was any such agreement.
Avenatti says the two businesses are distinct firms, but they function as the same law practice with the same lawyers and support staff in the same Newport Beach office suite.
Avenatti’s former firm petitioned for federal bankruptcy protection last year. More recently, Avenatti has claimed in court documents that his new firm, Avenatti & Associates, owns 75% of Eagan Avenatti, and that the two firms share resources like offices and staff.
But while the eviction is just the latest blow to Avenatti’s reputation, we imagine the lawyer will quickly occupy himself by bigger concerns – like suing TMZ.
Whomever wrote and approved that TMZ article better get their checkbook ready because it was purposely malicious and false. It was designed to harm Lisa, me and my family and we are going expose TMZ for what they did. No journalist should rely on or defend garbage like that.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) November 16, 2018
