Michael Avenatti Arrested by Feds at California State Bar Hearing

[DesertRat]

LOS ANGELES—Ex-Stormy Daniels lawyer and Trump antagonist Michael Avenatti was led out of the State Bar Court in Los Angeles by federal agents on Tuesday evening.

The arrest occurred outside the disciplinary hearing in which the State Bar of California has accused the hard-charging, tough-talking attorney of using a doctored document to scam a client out of nearly $840,000, funneling money from a lawsuit settlement fund to his own personal use.

The State Bar of California, the official attorney licensing agency, has sought to put Avenatti on “involuntary inactive status,” setting in motion a timeline for disbarment proceedings.

During a break in testimony, members of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, who are prosecuting Avenatti in a separate criminal matter in Orange County, parleyed with Avenatti's team of lawyers and took the lawyer into custody.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/michael-avenatti-arrested-by-feds-at-california-state-bar-hearing

[LuvLoogie]

1. I remain skeptical of Mr. Avenatti...

[JDC]

26. Great post

[Dorian Gray]

40. LOL

[Hoyt]

2. Some wanted him on debate stage tonight, running for Prez.

[Docreed2003]

5. Lmao

Those were some fun times back then...seems forever ago

[Tipperary]

14. I remember that well.

I was scorned for saying I thought he was the same as rump.

[Dorian Gray]

42. Yep....

He was always a flagrant grifter, but people hear what they want to hear.

[Dorian Gray]

41. Those were embarrassing times....

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. He seems to be in very deep kimchee.

How the mighty have fallen....

[Codeine]

4. Basta!

[Ms. Toad]

6. Where are all of the Avenatti for president cheerleaders now? n/t

[nolabear]

8. To be fair no one knew he was a crook back then.

I didn’t want him for president but I bought his line when nobody knew it was just a line because we all so badly wanted someone to hammer 45.

[Ms. Toad]

9. Quite a few of us knew it was just a line -

and took a fair amount of abuse from the Avenatti cheerleaders.

[greenjar_01]

10. And now you'll have your revenge

Two cheers.

[Ms. Toad]

15. It's not about revenge -

and more about reminding people that snakes are snakes, even when it appears they are on our side - and hoping that next time people will do a bit more critical thinking.

[nolabear]

19. Yeah but it sounds like shaming. That's never helpful.

People here are smart. They know when someone they’d liked turns out to be wrong. They don’t need reminding.

[Ms. Toad]

23. That has not been my experience.

Far too many people (including some Avenatti cheerleaders) do not seem to learn from their mistakes. I'm hoping reminding will serve the purpose of a reminder to take a breath and think before jumping on the bandwagon next time.

[jberryhill]

33. Can you imagine?

How much does it suck to be arrested during a recess in your disbarment hearing?

What is it like, cooling your heels in a jail cell and reflecting on how your day went?

You woke up thinking, “Hey, maybe I get lucky today” and here you are, knowing it might be close to a decade before you walk outside again.

[Dorian Gray]

43. I suspect he

doesn't have any self-awareness or the ability to self reflect.

[Tipperary]

16. Yup.

I got piled on for saying he was a con man.

[USALiberal]

22. Then keep saying "I told you so" if it makes you feel better! Nt

.

[Ms. Toad]

24. Just hoping to nudge folks to engage brains before jumping on the bandwagon next time. n/t

[greenjar_01]

28. So helpful!

teacher!

[Tipperary]

30. Or at least not attack others for having a different viewpoint

about any given person. They have certainly gone quiet now. I bookmarked a couple of those threads. Fun to read now.

When it was pointed out to them that he was sleazy as hell, his supporters claimed “that’s what we need to beat rump!” Really makes me wonder how low some are willing to go. We should never want to be like them. Ever.

[Codeine]

12. But we knew he was a shady asshole.

The guy had a sketchy vibe from Day 1.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. It became obvious pretty early that he was a sleazy character.

It was only the extent of his grift that was still unknown. He did stuff no ethical or competent lawyer would have done, like commencing a ridiculous libel action against Trump that any reasonably alert first-year law student would have known was unwinnable, and it ended up costing his client $300K in attorneys' fees. He tried to intervene in the SDNY case against Michael Cohen, but when the judge told him NY's ethics rules require attorneys to not talk to the media about their cases and that he had to choose between representing his client and going on TV, he chose TV. Then he claimed to be representing immigrant children, which didn't seem to actually happen. His ethics were at best dubious from the very get-go. I was astonished that so many people on DU thought he was God's gift to the Democratic party, and some of us got slammed pretty hard for trying to point out what should have been obvious.

[Skittles]

27. oh I knew he was sleazy, for sure

[jberryhill]

31. And welcome back

Skittles took more flack for being skeptical of Avenatti than anybody.

[Skittles]

32. him AND his client

[Hekate]

34. Actually, there was an extensive article in the Los Angeles Times back when he first showed up...

...as Stormy's attorney. I wrote about it here and linked to it. The guy was always a sharper, always cutting corners, and had a bit of an unsavory reputation.

But the mere fact that he was a fast talking hard driving type taking on Trump actually had a bunch of DUers calling for him to run for president. Eww.

I still feel sorry for Stormy. That business with a thug approaching her in a parking lot and threatening her and her infant was horrifying. Then Avenatti took advantage of that.

[Kaleva]

46. There were many who ignored the evidence presented here that he was iffy at best.

[cwydro]

48. This.

I was amazed at those who thought he was the one to beat the dotard.

I’d be ashamed to cheer for scum like that, and even more ashamed that he’s a Democrat.

[Kaleva]

55. It amazes me how humans can con themselves into believing a con man.

Places like Free Republic are full of folks who can't see what appears to be obvious and everything Trump does is part of his master plan. On the other side, some fell for Avenatti despite the evidence that was and is available that showed he wasn't much better then Trump.

[Kaleva]

58. I find it interesting to see what the other side is focusing on and discussing

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

[Kaleva]

60. People ignored what Hitler wrote in his book "Mein Kampf"

And people ignored the posts warning about Avanetti.

If you wish to live in a bubble, that's fine with me. It's your choice. Nobody but you can make you do anything.

[jberryhill]

7. Obviously a setup

He’ll be bringing Trump down any day now.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. And then he can jump right into the primaries and defeat everybody.

[vsrazdem]

11. It seems he is as big a crook as Trump is.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. Trump is in a class by himself.

Avenatti is just another very dishonest, greedy guy while Trump might be Satan.

[UniteFightBack]

20. He coulda really been sumbody. nt

[bluedigger]

21. Hope he doesn't get Epsteined.

[jberryhill]

25. And what secrets does Avenatti possess?

Why not just kill him on a street somewhere instead of taking him into custody first?

Link to tweet

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

29. Why would he? He's a garden-variety grifter; he doesn't have secrets

about the perverse sex lives of the rich and famous. He's just a lawyer who cheated his clients, who are better off with him alive so they have at least some small hope of restitution.

[bluedigger]

53. He's an enemy of the state, i.e. Donald Trump.

Your faith in Trump's rational pursuit of vengeance seems naive.

[Kablooie]

35. Probably a good thing he isn't the Dem candidate for president.

[EveHammond13]

36. if he switches to GOP, trump will put him on the Supreme Court

[Dorian Gray]

39. Remember

when some hoped this grifter would be the next democratic presidential nominee?

Yeah, me too.

What a fucking asshole

[mnmoderatedem]

44. trump's silence through all of this is telling

throughout all the drama, with Avenatti looking worse and worse throughout, trump never says a peep. No petty gloating or childish nicknames being tweeted. He knows Avenetti knows things he does not want made public.

[Kaleva]

47. Trump is busy attacking those who do have the goods on him.

People like Pelosi.

[Rorey]

54. Good point

Although it may be that -45 just thinks that Avenatti knows things, or has his purported proof of things.

But yes, his silence is VERY telling.

[Kaleva]

45. I like this post made back in Nov. of 2018 by a fellow DUer about Avenatti

"These Avenatti post have got to be trolling!
I just do not do OPs because I don't normally have anything that I think is of value. But all the post about this guy for the last 6 months is really pissing me off.

So this dude represents a porn star that Donald Trump fucked. And then in public defense of his client he goes on a twitter war with Trump and all the talking heads have him on because, you know, Porn Star. And he loves the publicity as defense lawyer do, for good reason.

So now he is representative of the Democratic Party? Total Bullshit.

I can't believe there are still so many post about him on DU, and even people here talking about him as a Democratic candidate for president? It boggles the mind.

Meanwhile, we have real public servants like Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Marcia Fudge and so many more fighting to right this totally fucked ship of state?

I for one will fight against the attempt to turn DU into a reality TV talking platform. I am going to post a version of this post on every Avenatti OP that my time allows.

I love DU because it is a group of serious thinkers talking about serious subjects.

Stop talking about this clown."

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211457156

[cwydro]

49. I remember that thread!

Interesting to read now.

[RandiFan1290]

50. A lot of trumpers gloating today

as if this clears their orange pedophile hero.

[Rorey]

52. Right

Avenatti continues to be a stupid distraction. We need to keep our eye on the ball.

[Rorey]

51. I told you so....

Actually, I didn't tell anyone so.

Avenatti has always been just a distraction, IMO, and now the MAGAts will try to use this as a tool.

If Avenatti had claimed to be a Republican, they'd be claiming that he was framed, or some other such nonsense. That's the dishonesty of the Republican party. We should always strive to be better than that, and I think we are. I hope we're also good enough to stop putting each other down for supporting someone *we* thought was on our side.

[Crabby Appleton]

56. bail has been revoked by the judge. nt