Michael Avenatti Biography

Michael Avenatti is an American attorney and entrepreneur. Avenatti has appeared on broadcast as well as in print media as a legal commentator.

He has represented parties in a number of prominent lawsuits which include cases brought against the National Football League, various celebrity defendants, high ranking business executives, and Fortune 100 companies.

Avenatti is also a professional race car driver, having participated in races in the United States and Europe. He represents adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump in an attempt to void a non-disclosure agreement which she had signed. He also represents Daniels a related defamation suit against Trump. A federal judge later dismissed the defamation lawsuit and ordered Daniels to pay Trump’s legal fees in October 2018. Avenatti said that Daniels is appealing that decision.

Michael Avenatti Age

Michael John Avenatti was born on February 16, 1971 in Sacramento, California, U.S. He is 47 years old as of 2018.

Michael Avenatti Family | Michael Avenatti Parents

Michael spent his early childhood in Colorado and Utah. Michael’s father was a manager for Anheuser-Busch. He moved with his family to Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, in 1982.

Michael Avenatti Wife

Avenatti was married to Christine Avenatti Carlin with whom he has two daughters. He later married Lisa Storie in 2011 with whom he has a son. Lisa filed for a divorce in December 2017.

Michael Avenatti Children | Michael Avenatti Kids

Michael has three children; two daughters from his  first marriage to Christine and a son from his marriage to Lisa.

Michael Avenatti Education

Michael Avenatti High School

Avenatti attended Parkway Central High School. He attended Saint Louis University for a year before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania after graduating in 1989. In 1996, he graduated with a B.A. in political science. While in college, he worked as an opposition researcher for Rahm Emmanuel’s political consulting firm.

Michael Avenatti Law School

Michael then attended George Washington University Law School. He graduated Order of the Coif and first in his class with a J.D. in 2000. While at GW, Avenatti worked with Professor Jonathan Turley on constitutional issues relating to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). George Washington University Law School established the Michael J. Avenatti Award for Excellence in Pre-Trial and Trial Advocacy in 2003. It was an annual award given to the member of the graduating Juris Doctor class who demonstrates excellence in pre-trial and trial advocacy. In 2010, he also received George Washington University’s prestigious Alumni Recognition Award.

Michael Avenatti Attorney

While in college and later in law school, Michael worked at The Research Group, a political opposition research and media firm which was run by Rahm Emanuel. Rahm later became White House Chief of Staff for President Barack Obama, and Mayor of Chicago. Michael worked on over 150 Democratic and Republican campaigns in 42 states while studying at George Washington University.

After law school, he worked at O’Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles, California, alongside Daniel M. Petrocelli, who previously represented the Ron Goldman family in its case against O.J. Simpson. Avenatti assisted Petrocelli on multiple legal matters, including the representation of singer Christina Aguilera and also litigation surrounding the movie K-19: The Widowmaker. He also worked extensively for Don Henley and Glenn Frey of the musical group the Eagles, including in a suit brought by former bandmate Don Felder against the group and Irving Azoff.

Michael later joined Greene Broillet & Wheeler, a Los Angeles boutique law firm. While there, Avenatti handled a number of high-profile cases, including a $10 million defamation case against Paris Hilton. He settled an idea-theft lawsuit relating to the show The Apprentice and against producers Mark Burnett and Donald Trump, and also a $40 million embezzlement lawsuit involving KPMG.

Michael Avenatti Law Firm

He formed the law firm Eagan Avenatti, LLP (formerly known as Eagan O’Malley & Avenatti, LLP) in 2007 with offices in Newport Beach, Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. Avenatti has since appeared on 60 Minutes three times in connection with cases he has handled. He has also served as lead counsel on a number of historically large cases, including an April 2017 $454 million verdict after a jury trial in Federal Court in Los Angeles in a fraud case against Kimberly-Clark and Halyard Health. The case was later reduced to a $21.7 million verdict upon appeal, an $80.5 million class-action settlement against Service Corporation International, a $41 million jury verdict against KPMG, and a $39 million malicious prosecution settlement.

Michael formed a company, Global Baristas, to buy Seattle-based Tully’s Coffee out of bankruptcy in 2013. He first formed a partnership with actor Patrick Dempsey, but Patrick later backed away from the venture after a short legal battle that resulted in a settlement. The company has been named in more than 50 lawsuits in state and federal courts for breach of contract, unpaid bills, and unpaid taxes since 2015.

Michael prevailed against the National Football League (NFL) following a jury trial in Dallas in 2015. He then pursued a class-action suit on behalf of fans who showed up for Super Bowl XLV with tickets that didn’t correspond to actual seats but the courts in Texas declined to certify the class.

He filed another class action lawsuit against the NFL in 2016. This time, it was on behalf of ticket-holders to the annual Hall of Fame Game which had been cancelled a few hours before kickoff.

Michael’s law firm was subjected to a $10 million judgment in U.S. bankruptcy court in 2018. He has also defaulted on a $440,000 judgment in back taxes, penalties, and also interest that he was personally obligated to pay under another bankruptcy settlement. The U.S. Attorney’s office asserted in court that a motion seeking payment would soon be filed against him. Eagan Avenatti had been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and in December 2017, had agreed to pay $4.8 million in unpaid fees to a former partner, $2 million in back taxes, and also $1 million to other creditors. The former partner filed a motion in U.S. bankruptcy court asking for a lien on any and all legal fees Avenatti’s firm might collect in June 2018, up to $10 million, from clients in 54 cases which included his representation of Stormy Daniels.

Michael Avenatti Racing

Michael has raced as a driver in approximately 33 professional sportscar races which include various American Le Mans Series, FIA World Endurance Championship, Porsche Supercup and United SportsCar Championship races in the United States and in Europe since 2010. The races have included the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, 2012 Petit Le Mans, and the Long Beach Grand Prix.

He had been planning to race the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, but then replaced himself with Patrick Long a few weeks before the event because scheduling conflicts had arisen with his other business interests. At the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, Michael teamed up with Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Saud and Polish driver Jakub “Kuba” Giermaziak in the No. 66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia. The team then placed seventh in its class.

Michael Avenatti For President | Michael Avenatti 2020

Michael has on several occasions, including in a post to Twitter, expressed his interest in running for president in 2020. In a CBC TV interview published in September 2018, he said he would run in 2020 only against Trump or Pence.

Michael Avenatti Brett Kavanaugh

As the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court was being evaluated in the Senate in September 2018, two women accused him of inappropriate sexual conduct while in high school or college.

Michael Avenatti Julie Swetnick

Michael then announced that he had a client who made additional allegations against Kavanaugh. She was as both a witness and a victim of inappropriate behavior, and said that she would soon come forward publicly. The woman was publicly identified by Avenatti as Julie Swetnick on September 25, a resident of Washington, D.C. and a 1980 graduate of Gaithersburg High School in Maryland. Julie claims in a sworn affidavit, signed under penalty of perjury, that Brett, as a high school student in the early 1980s, drank excessively and then engaged in physically aggressive behavior toward girls.

Swetnick said he was present at parties where girls were drugged and gang raped and that he also participated in those activities. She also claims that she was gang raped at a party where both Kavanaugh and Judge were present, although they both did not personally participate in the attack. Kavanaugh retorted, “I don’t know who this is and this never happened.” September 26 the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Chairman Grassley requesting “in light of shocking new allegations detailed by Julie Swetnick” that the vote be immediately canceled and that Grassley should support either the reopening of the FBI investigation or the withdrawal of Kavanaugh’s nomination. In an NBC interview, Julie provided the names of four friends went to the parties with her – however, one is deceased and another one did not know her.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley referred Michael and Swetnick to the Department of Justice for a possible criminal investigation over the allegations they made false statements to Congress about the now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Michael called the referral “completely baseless.”

Michael Avenatti Cnn

In an interview in October 2018 with CNN, Michael said:

“I have not announced whether I’m running; I haven’t made a decision. What I will say is, I’m travelling around the country; I’m very encouraged by people and their reaction to me, and a lot of people are encouraging me to run, because they think that we need a fighter; we need someone to call this president out on his conduct, and we’ve gotta get back to making this nation what it once was.”

Michael Avenatti Trump | Michael Avenatti Stormy

Michael filed a lawsuit in March 2018 on behalf of adult film actress Stormy Daniels seeking to invalidate a 2016 non-disclosure agreement regarding an alleged affair with Donald Trump in 2006. The non-disclosure agreement had been negotiated in the final days of the 2016 U.S. Presidential campaign. Michael has been a frequent guest on talk shows and also cable news programs to discuss the case, logging 108 CNN and MSNBC appearances between March 7 and May 10, 2018. Avenatti also gained a large following on Twitter; he is widely known for ending his tweets about the case and other Trump-related matters with the Twitter hashtag “#basta”–the Italian word for “enough.”

He released records showing multiple large payments, some from major corporations, into the bank account Cohen had used to pay Daniels in May 2018. Cohen’s lawyers later argued that some of the transactions released by Michael involved a different Michael Cohen, but they did not dispute the larger deposits. The US Treasury Department opened an investigation into how Michael gained information from Cohen’s private bank records. Michael had also filed a motion to join the federal investigation of Michael Cohen. The federal judge issued Michael “a choice” that if he wanted to join he had to end what the judge called his “publicity tour” of TV appearances and tweets about the case. Michael withdrew the motion, and appeared on MSNBC that same day.

Michael Avenatti Msnbc

Michael provided to MSNBC a video which aired on the June 25, 2018 episode of The Rachel Maddow Show, a “secretly shot” video of a child who was in the custody of immigration officials and separated from her mother. The video had been leaked by a former employee whom michael represents. The video was part of the response to the Trump administration family separation policy.

Michael Avenatti Office

A few days after his arrest in November 2018, Michael’s law firm was evicted from its office in Newport Beach after skipping $213,000 worth of rent payments.

Michael Avenatti Political Party

Avenatti is a member of the Democratic party.

Michael Avenatti Arrest

Michael was arrested on November 14 after being accused of domestic violence. He vehemently denied the claims and was released on bail hours after his arrest.

Michael Avenatti Height

Avenatti stands at a height of 1.75m.

Michael Avenatti Wife Photos | Michael Avenatti Images

Michael Avenatti Facebook

Michael Avenatti Twitter

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Michael Avenatti Instagram

Michael Avenatti Interview

Michael Avenatti News

Penn grad Michael Avenatti defends his innocence amid domestic violence allegations

Source; 

Authorities in California declined to bring felony domestic violence charges against attorney Michael Avenatti after his girlfriend, Mareli Miniutti, alleged Avenatti physically and verbally abused her.

In a series of tweets and statements, the 1996 College graduate vehemently denied the allegations and expressed confidence that he would be declared innocent.

The Los Angeles County district attorney referred Avenatti’s case to the city attorney’s office for a potential misdemeanor charge, The Associated Press reported.

On Nov. 14, Avenatti was arrested in Los Angeles on felony domestic abuse charges. The celebrity attorney posted bail later that night and described the allegations as “completely bogus.”

At the time, the victim remained unknown and TMZ originally incorrectly identified her as Avenatti’s estranged wife.

A week later, CNN reported Miniutti had obtained a restraining order against Avenatti. Miniutti, who had been dating Avenatti since October 2017, claimed the lawyer hit her face with pillows, dragged her across the floor, and called her abusive names.