Hot Water for Stormy Daniels' Lawyer: Bar Complaint Filed, Links to Tax Liens, 46 Lawsuits
As a lawyer for a porn star suing the president of the United States, there’s no doubt Michael Avenatti likes being in the spotlight.
But the public attention that comes with seemingly 24/7 interviews with liberal cable news networks is bringing the hotshot lawyer some attention he probably doesn’t want.
And the spotlight might be getting too hot.
According to Business Insider, a company Avenatti once owned owes about $5 million in taxes to the IRS, is fighting off 46 lawsuits — including from vendors and landlords. And according to the Seattle Times, Avenatti himself is facing an official complaint filed by a rival lawyer with the California Bar Association that questions Avenatti’s “fitness to practice law.”
It’s not the image the liberal media is presenting of the fearless, bulldog attorney standing up for his client — Stormy Daniels — against the most powerful man on earth.
But it’s contributing to growing questions about who’s bankrolling Avenatti’s crusade against President Donald Trump. (Former Bill Clinton adviser and pollster Mark Penn raised that very issue in a column published by The Hill on Thursday.)
According to Business Insider, Avenatti’s tax bills and lawsuits stem from his ownership of a failed Seattle coffee shop company called Tully’s that Avenatti bought out of bankruptcy with actor Patrick Dempsey (best known for playing the role of neurosurgeon Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd on the Seattle-set television series “Grey’s Anatomy.”)
Avenatti and Shepherd might have had dreams of a David and Goliath role against the Seattle-based coffee giant Starbucks when their company bought Tully’s in June 2013, but it wasn’t a partnership that was going to last. In fact, two months later, Dempsey sued Avenatti to get out, Business Insider reported.
The chain itself didn’t have much more success than the partnership. The 40 Tully’s locations that Avenatti’s company, Global Baristas, purchased in the 2013 deal had dropped to 15 by the beginning of 2018. In March, they were all closed.
As Business Insider reported:
“Global Baristas failed to pay $4,998,198 in federal taxes last year, according to a tax lien filed by the IRS in August. That is in addition to thousands of dollars in state taxes the company failed to pay over the years, according to more than 20 state tax liens filed in California and Washington. Most recently, in early April, Washington state issued a warrant claiming Global Baristas owed more than $721,000 in state taxes.
“Avenatti told Business Insider that, to the best of his knowledge, Global Baristas has paid the taxes it owed, though he also said it was not his responsibility.”
Avenatti now claims he no longer owns Global Baristas. He told The Washington Post for an article published in March that he “exited at the right time.”
Besides taxes, the company is also facing lawsuits from suppliers and a slew of landlord-tenant lawsuits over rent, Business Insider reported.
Pursuing Avenatti as a representative for Tully’s suppliers and landlords is Seattle lawyer David Nold.
It was Nold who filed the complaint with the California Bar Association officially questioning Avenatti’s “fitness to practice law.”
Nold also doesn’t believe Avenatti is no longer the owner of Global Baristas, the company at the heart of the back taxes and business lawsuits.
“Michael Avenatti’s actions in connection with Global Baristas US, LLC, have caused significant damage to the State of Washington, the federal government and numerous private entities,” Nold’s complaint to the Bar states. “They subject him to personal and criminal liability. And they implicate his fitness to practice law.”
This is the picture of Avenatti an attorney who’s battling him in court is trying to paint, and it’s a far cry from the one the mainstream media wants the American public to see.
But that’s the thing about the spotlight. It shows up things that the people who are in it might not want the public to see.
And it can get very, very hot.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
