Attorney Michael Avenatti has filed a claim against Stormy Daniels alleging she owes him more than $2 million in unpaid legal fees.
Avenatti filed the lien claim on Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, just days after the adult film actress reached a $450,000 settlement with the city regarding an incident last year when she was arrested on suspicion of inappropriately touching an undercover officer. However, the city attorney’s office dropped the charges within hours of the initial event, according to a Fox News report.
Thursday’s court filing stated:
Despite repeated demands that Ms. Daniels fulfill her contractual obligations and pay for the millions of dollars in legal fees and costs she has enjoyed for her benefit over the last approximate 19 months, including in this case, she has refused. Instead, Ms. Daniels maintains that because she is a ‘celebrity,’ she is entitled to free legal services and costs, and when confronted with her repeated failure to pay, she believes that she is entitled to manufacture and fabricate facts designed to impugn the reputation of her counsel and falsely accuse him of a multitude of acts. But the law does not work the way Ms. Daniels wishes.
Avenatti’s attorney, Tom Warren, reportedly said his client did great work for Daniels, all while “under intense pressure and scrutiny.”
“He made significant personal sacrifices for her benefit. He deserves to be paid by her, not criticized,” Warren concluded.
On May 22, Breitbart News reported Avenatti was charged for defrauding the porn star after federal prosecutors in New York City said he “used a doctored document to divert about $300,000 that Daniels was supposed to get from a book deal, then used the money for personal and business expenses.”
However, prosecutors claimed only half of the money was repaid.
Once the charges were announced, Avenatti defended himself on Twitter by stating, “No monies relating to Ms. Daniels were ever misappropriated or mishandled. She received millions of dollars worth of legal services and we spent huge sums in expenses. She directly paid only $100.00 for all that she received.”
“I look forward to a jury hearing the evidence,” he concluded.
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