Trump Just Got IMMENSE Revenge On Stormy's Crooked Attorney Was Hiding It All Along!
Stormy Daniels attorney, 47-year-old Michael Avenatti is now facing significant legal troubles
of his own, and may find himself in need of counsel.
Avenatti faced allegations of dubious business dealings as the owner of a flailing coffee
chain.
Since his investment firm bought bankrupt Tully's Coffee for $9.15 million at auction
five years ago, Avenatti's company has been named in more than 50 different state and
federal legal complaints, including commercial lawsuits, breach of lease actions, as well
as warrants for unpaid taxes, according to court records.
Tully's has shuttered the doors of multiple stores leaving employees jobless, landlords
unpaid, and customers left holding worthless loyalty cards.
And the list of grievances against Avenatti continues to grow ever longer.
Now a complaint has been submitted to the California State Bar Association with a copy
sent to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle.
Attorney David Nold of Bellvue, Washington alleges Avenatti carried out an illegal "pump
and dump" scheme through his Washington state-registered Tully's ownership firm,
Global Baristas US, LLC.
The complaint accuses Avenatti of fleecing nearly $6 million in federal, and state tax
withholdings while he ran the company.
The money was intended to be held in trust for payment of quarterly taxes from the paychecks
of Tully employees.
The complaint also claims Avenatti fraudulently transferred $100,000, from Tully's operation
last year in an effort to retain counsel for his California law firm's unrelated bankruptcy.
Nold is representing Bellevue Square, Ellenos yogurt and multiple other clients that have
recently sued the Tully's firm, states "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 and they implicate his fitness to practice law."
The complaint, first reported by The Seattle Times, said Avenatti and Global Baristas faced
a lien for unpaid federal taxes worth roughly $5 million, claiming taxes were withheld from
workers' paychecks but not paid to the government.
The complaint called into question Avenatti's "fitness to practice law."
Fox News confirms that the California State Bar is indeed investigating Avenatti.
According to the state bar's website, an investigation is launched based on a complaint
only if the state bar attorney sees evidence of a serious violation.
But Avenatti told Fox News on Wednesday that the complaint is 'completely baseless and
called Nold an 'unethical hack of a lawyer.
Nold, who filed the initial complaint, represents Bellevue Square, which has been in a landlord-tenant
dispute with Tully's Coffee.
The Superior Court for the State of Washington found Nold to be in contempt of court, following
an intentional disobedience of a court order.
Nold disclosed Avenatti's deposition transcript to The Seattle Times, according to a court
filing obtained by Fox News.
The court ruled that I should not have given the full Avenatti deposition transcript to
the news media, Nold told Fox News last week.
'The court found nothing wrong with sending the bar complaint.
Since the coffee chain purchase, Tully's has shuttered its stores (though the closures
were described as temporary), as Global Baristas has dealt with numerous lawsuits."
Not only is Avenatti being investigated by the California State Bar, he is also being
sued by a former law partner over an alleged breach of contract.
Former law partner Jason Frank filed a complaint this week in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming,
that Avenatti owes him $2 million for failing to make good on a settlement agreement for
a previous dispute.
Frank alleges in his complaint that he worked under an independent contractor arrangement
with the firm, whereby he was to get 25% of the firm's annual profits and 20% of his
client's fees, as well as copies of the firm's tax returns and other financial records.
The lawsuit accuses the firm of misstating their profits, not giving Frank copies of
the records as required, and failing to pay him money that was due him under their contract.
As a result, in February 2016 Frank filed a demand for arbitration and resigned from
the firm that May.
The arbitration panel found that Avenatti's firm had "acted with malice, fraud and oppression
by hiding its revenue numbers," and issued sanctions against the firm for not following
discovery orders.
The case was set to go to an arbitration trial in March 2017, and Avenatti was scheduled
for a March 3, 2017 deposition, according to the lawsuit.
Frank states that just two days prior to the scheduled deposition, someone under the name
"Gerald Tobin" filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against the firm.
The firm claims this action prevented the deposition and trial from taking place on
the scheduled dates.
Frank alleges that the arbitration panel found that Avenatti's firm had "acted with malice,
fraud, and oppression by hiding its revenue numbers," and issued sanctions against the
firm for not following discovery orders.
The case was set to go to an arbitration trial in March 2017, and Avenatti was scheduled
for a March 3, 2017 deposition, according to the lawsuit.
Frank states that two days before the deposition, someone under the name "Gerald Tobin"
filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against the firm, which the firm claimed prevented
the deposition and trial from taking place at that time.
According to Law & Crime: "According to Frank's lawsuit, a judge then gave Avenatti
until March 10, 2017, to consent to Chapter 11 bankruptcy, saying that the involuntary
petition 'has a stench of impropriety.'
Avenatti indeed consented to bankruptcy, and in December 2017, Frank and the firm reached
a settlement agreement, whereby the firm would pay Frank $4.85 million the lawsuit says.
According to the complaint, the agreement depended on the bankruptcy court accepting
the terms and dismissing the bankruptcy case, which it did on March 15, 2018.
The agreement called for Frank to be paid $2 million within 60 days of the March 15
dismissal, which Frank claims did not happen (the settlement agreement called for the remaining
$2.85 million to be paid within 120 days of the dismissal).
Frank claims that Avenatti is liable for the unpaid money because the settlement called
for him to personally guarantee the payment, which he did through a separate agreement."
Avenatti states of the lawsuit:"Frivolous and baseless.
Who cares?"
Frank's attorney, Eric M. George states of the lawsuit: "Michael Avenatti's law
firm entered into a crystal clear written settlement agreement to resolve a prior lawsuit
brought by Jason Frank, his former law partner.
The settlement agreement was approved by a federal court and was a condition of his law
firm exiting bankruptcy.
Under this settlement, Mr. Avenatti's law firm was required to pay Mr. Frank $4.85 million,
all of which was personally guaranteed by Mr. Avenatti.
Mr. Avenatti's law firm was required to make the first $2 million payment under the
settlement to Mr. Frank on Monday, May 14.
Mr. Avenatti's law firm failed to make its required payment, and Mr. Avenatti himself
failed to honor his personal guarantee obligation."
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