Michael Avenatti was accused of stiffing a mentally challenged paraplegic who won a $4 million in a court case. He received $2,900 a month but should have received the entire $4 million in one shot.
The testimony came from a former law partner of Avenatti’s, whose $10 million judgment against Avenatti led him to take the law firm into bankruptcy. Originally, the settlement was just $4.55 million, but the judge upped the settlement when Avenatti did not make the first payment the settlement required him to do.
Avenatti was arrested in New York last week and has also been indicted in California for robbing p0eople he won settlements for.
Embattled lawyer Michael Avenatti reportedly stiffed a paraplegic man with mental health problems out of $4 million personal injury settlement, a former partner of the “resistance” hero told a southern Californa courtroom on Friday.
The allegation emerged as part of a federal court hearing for the case of Avenatti’s former legal partner Jason Frank, who won a court judgment ordering Avenatti to fork over Frank $10 million in unpaid profits from their now-defunct law firm Eagan Avenatti. Frank had initially settled with Avenatti for $4.85 million in December 2017, but a judge hiked the judgment to $10 million after Avenatti failed to make the first payment, prompting the firm to seek bankruptcy proceedings.
The Daily Mail reports:
DailyMail.com understands Avenatti sued the County of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca on behalf of [Geoffrey] Johnson in a major personal injury claim. Frank’s lawyer revealed a $4 million settlement contract signed by Avenatti in January 2015, resulting in a check for $4 million from LA County to his firm Eagan Avenatti.
But according to bank records presented by Frank’s attorney Andrew Stolper, Johnson was only paid around $2,900 per month after the settlement. The records, presented by Stolper in court, show the $4 million was put in a trust account rather than being sent directly to Johnson. Avenatti described the allegations as ‘absolutely outrageous’ and said the payments were an advance on a different settlement payment.