Michael Avenatti (Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)
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Michael Avenatti arrested by federal agents while facing disbarment in California
January 14, 2020
Stormy Daniels' former attorney had a bad Tuesday
California attorney formerly representing porn star Stormy Daniels and unrelenting Trump critic Michael Avenatti has been arrested again, this time by federal agents after he left a disciplinary hearing where California's State Bar was pursuing his disbarment.
What are the details?
The Daily Beast reported Tuesday that Avenatti's "arrest occurred outside the disciplinary hearing in which the State Bar of California has accused the hard-charging, tough-talking attorney of using a doctored document to scam a client out of nearly $840,000, funneling money from a lawsuit settlement fund to his own personal use."
Reuters reporter Brad Heath posted a snippet on Twitter of a court document regarding Avenatti's arrest, with the message, "Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles say he violated the terms of his pretrial release."
The feds did not specify what "potential violations of the conditions of pretrial release" Avenatti allegedly committed.
The Daily Beast reported that as Avenatti was being led out of the courthouse, he told reporters, "Completely innocent."
To add to Avenatti's woes on Tuesday, a judge in another case denied the one-time Democratic White House hopeful's request to delay a trial against him in another state. According to the Associated Press, a judge in New York decided to move forward as scheduled with the Jan. 22 trial deciding whether Avenatti is guilty of trying to extort tens of millions of dollars from Nike.
Avenatti is currently facing three trials over the next four months, along with the disbarment proceedings against him in California.
Anything else?
Before his current legal troubles, Avenatti spent time in Iowa last year exploring the prospect of running for president on the Democratic ticket. Since then, he's spent his days apparently fighting legal battles while attempting to antagonize President Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. on Twitter.
When news of Avenatti's latest arrest broke Tuesday night during the Democratic presidential primary debate, Trump Jr. tweeted, "Again??? He would have been more entertaining on tonight's #demdebate than these jokers. What happened?"
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Breck Dumas
Breck is a former staff writer for Blaze News. Prior to that, Breck served as a U.S. Senate aide, business magazine editor and radio talent. She holds a degree in business management from Mizzou, and an MBA from William Woods University.
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