NEW YORK- Michael Avenatti's legal troubles escalated on Wednesday as federal prosecutors announced new indictments accusing the lawyer and prominent critic of U.S. President Donald Trump of ripping off porn star Stormy Daniels and extorting Nike Inc.
Prosecutors in Manhattan accused Avenatti, 48, of stealing about $300,000 from Daniels, the client who made him famous, to fund an extravagant lifestyle including a Ferrari automobile, after helping her secure a book contract.
The Nike indictment concerns charges announced in March that Avenatti tried to extort more than $20 million from the athletic wear company by threatening to expose what he called its improper payments to recruits for college basketball teams it sponsored.
Avenatti also faces dozens of charges in southern California, where prosecutors on April 11 accused him of stealing millions of dollars from clients to pay for personal and business expenses, and lying to the Internal Revenue Service and a Mississippi bank about his finances.
If convicted on all charges, Avenatti could face more than 400 years in prison, but would likely face a lesser punishment.
Nike has denied wrongdoing, and assisted prosecutors prior to Avenatti's arrest.
Avenatti has maintained his innocence and said the earlier prosecutions were to punish him for representing Daniels and criticizing Trump.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, received hush money to keep quiet about an affair she claimed to have had with Trump in 2006. The president has denied having had sex with Daniels.
"I look forward to a jury hearing all of the evidence and passing judgment on my conduct," Avenatti wrote on Twitter after the indictments were announced.
"At no time was any money misappropriated or mishandled. I will be fully exonerated once the relevant emails, contracts, text messages, and documents are presented."
He later said in an email that Daniels had received "millions of dollars worth of legal services."
Lawyers for Avenatti did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Daniels could not immediately be reached.
BOOK ADVANCE
Avenatti represented Daniels in lawsuits arising from a $130,000 hush money payment from former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen shortly before the 2016 presidential election.
Prosecutors said Avenatti diverted two $148,750 installment payments from Daniels' $800,000 book advance, after sending her literary agent a letter that forged her signature, and directed that money be sent to his bank account.
Daniels is identified in court papers as "Victim-1." A person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly confirmed her identity.
According to the papers, Avenatti spent some of the diverted funds on lease payments for the Ferrari, hotels, airfare, restaurant meals, car service and business expenses.
Prosecutors said Avenatti eventually paid $148,750 to Daniels after obtaining the money from another source, but lied when she asked where the second payment was by telling her the publisher "owes me a payment" and that he was "on it."
Daniels has not received that payment, prosecutors said. She dropped Avenatti as her lawyer earlier this year.
"Michael Avenatti abused and violated the core duty of an attorney--the duty to his client," U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, who announced Wednesday's indictments, said in a statement.
"Far from zealously representing his client, Avenatti, as alleged, instead engaged in outright deception and theft, victimizing rather than advocating for his client," Berman added.
The charges related to Daniels include one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, and carry a maximum combined penalty of 22 years in prison.
Daniels' book "Full Disclosure" was published in October.
Cohen is two weeks into his three-year prison term after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations, including the hush money payment.
Avenatti became a familiar face on cable news channels as his stature grew, and flirted last year with a 2020 White House run. He has had a lower profile since being charged.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW YORK - One of the lawyers representing women who claim they were abused by R&B star R. Kelly said Sunday a new video tape had emerged which showed the singer "sexually abusing children."
Kelly is currently on bail after being accused of sexually abusing four women, including three teenagers, between May 1998 and January 2010.
The latest discovery was announced by lawyer Gloria Allred at a press conference where she told journalists it was found by couple Gary and Sallie Dennis in a box of old VHS cassettes at their home.
Neither Allred nor Dennis elaborated on how the tape came to be in the couple's possession.
"Prior to learning that such a tape was in their possession, Sallie had viewed the Lifetime documentary called 'Surviving R. Kelly,'" said Allred.
"She was emotionally very disturbed by what the women in the documentary alleged had happened.
"Sometime after that, Sallie and her husband discovered to their surprise that they had a VHS tape that could be helpful in learning what had happened to these young girls who had come into contact with R. Kelly."
Allred said that while she had not viewed a previous tape that had been widely reported in the media, she did not believe it was of the same act.
She said it showed "what appeared to be R. Kelly sexually abusing children" but declined to go into further detail.
But she urged others who possess such tapes but may be reluctant to admit that they have them to come forward to her or to law enforcement.
Gary Dennis said he had made the discovery while going through old sports tapes and trying to decide which ones to keep and which to throw out.
"He was telling them what to do and what to say, and it appeared that he was controlling the camera," said Denis.
Dennis said that as a father to two daughters himself, he reacted in horror and his first instinct was to throw the tape out, but after discussing the matter with his wife contacted Allred.
The tape is the third to purportedly show Kelly engaging in such acts. The first two have been reported by Michael Avenatti, a lawyer representing other women involved in the case.
Multiple women have come forward since the airing of the six-part documentary in January to say the 52-year-old singer had sexual relations with girls under the age of 16 and kept sex slaves.
The details of the current criminal case echo previous accusations of sexual misconduct that have dogged the artist for the last two decades.
In 2002, he was criminally charged for allegedly filming himself having sex with a 14-year-old girl. He was tried in that case and acquitted of child pornography charges in 2008.
A 2017 BuzzFeed report later alleged he had kept women as virtual sex slaves at homes he owns in Chicago and Atlanta.
cat/ia/ska
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Porn star Stormy Daniels will go to court on July 12 in a bid to dissolve an agreement stopping her discussing an affair she says she had with President Donald Trump, according to court papers published Wednesday.
Lawyer Michael Avenatti filed a lawsuit on behalf of Daniels last week seeking to toss out the confidential settlement she signed just days before the November 2016 election.
The lawsuit alleges that Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, began an "intimate relationship" with Trump in the summer of 2006 that continued well into 2007.
She has offered to return the $130,000 she received so that she can be free to "speak openly and freely about her prior relationship with the president and the attempts to silence her."
Daniels is also asking to be allowed to publish text messages, photos and videos relating to the president, Avenatti said in a letter to Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen.
"I think it's time for her to tell her story and for the public to decide who's telling the truth," Avenatti said last week.
A copy of the settlement filed in court shows that Daniels received the $130,000 from a company known as Essential Consultants LLC in return for her silence.
Using the pseudonyms Peggy Peterson and David Dennison, Daniels and Trump were to sign the agreement, along with Essential Consultants.
But Trump never signed, providing the basis for Avenatti's attempt to have it thrown out and release Daniels from her obligations.
Daniels is asking for presiding judge Elizabeth Feffer to be replaced, arguing that she has a conflict of interest because she is seeking an appointment to a seat in federal court.
The White House has denied any sexual encounter between Trump and Daniels.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
