Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti is said to be completely broke and unable to pay his legal fees. California attorney, Dean Steward,...
Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti is said to be completely broke and unable to pay his legal fees.
California attorney, Dean Steward, who is representing Avenatti, ended up filing a motion in federal court on Saturday which revealed details of his financial trouble.
It leaves former hot-shot lawyer Avenatti requesting taxpayer help to cover costs.
Just how bad a position financially Avenatti is in however, remains unclear after the details were sealed from public view and prosecutors.
'The bottom line is that Mr. Avenatti has run out of funds, and faces a complex trial lasting as long as six weeks,' Steward wrote in the federal filing.
Avenatti, who rose to fame representing porn star Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against President Donald Trump has recently been staying at the home of a friend in California after being released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan due to coronavirus fears.
But he still faces three ongoing criminal cases.
Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti has run out of money and is now unable to pay his legal fees
Dean Steward, a California attorney who has represented the discredited lawyer for more than a year is now looking to use funds from the public purse
Steward has represented Avenatti for more than a year after he was previously represented by lawyers from the federal public defender's office.
Now Avenatti's funds have run out, he is proposing to retain Steward on as his counsel using funds set aside to help indigent clients, according to the New York Post.
'The retainer has long since run out and defendant does not have funds to pay counsel,' Steward says.
'Such an arrangement would save considerable taxpayer funds, over starting fresh with new … counsel.'
It's not clear when Los Angeles Judge James Selna will rule on the matter.
The 49-year-old is currently confined to his friend's tiny apartment in Venice Beach, near Los Angeles.
Avenatti was granted a 90-day temporary release after making $1 million bail from Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York in April.
His $1 million bond was posted by a friend, Hubert Bromma
Stormy Daniels' former attorney is also banned from using any digital devices that allow internet access while he is on a 90-day release from jail due to coronavirus fears
Judge James Selna ruled at the time that Avenatti could not possess or use any digital devices that allow internet access.
Avenatti had been locked up since mid-January when a judge revoked his bail and sent him to jail while he awaited his federal trial for attempting to extort Nike for $25million.
He was convicted on February 14, 2020 on the charges and was being held in a federal detention facility in New York City awaiting a June sentencing on the Nike case.
He also faces criminal trials in New York accused of defrauding former client Daniels and in Los Angeles for cheating clients and others of millions of dollars. He has denied wrongdoing in both cases.
Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti was pictured last month on house arrest and is currently confined to his friend's tiny apartment in Venice Beach
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