Judge Orders Cohen Team To Explain Why Avenatti Shouldn't Appear In Court
Source: Talking Points Memo
By Allegra Kirkland | May 17, 2018 9:52 am
If Michael Cohen doesn’t want Michael Avenatti to show up at his federal court hearing next week, Cohen’s lawyers are going to have to find a legal basis to block him – and fast.
U.S. Judge Kimba Wood ruled Wednesday that Cohen had to promptly respond to Avenatti’s motion to appear at a status conference related to the criminal investigation into Cohen’s financial dealings. The proceeding is focused on the rules governing materials seized from Cohen’s premises by federal agents. In her ruling, Wood pointedly wrote that Cohen “should include citations to any legal authorities that support his position.”
Last week, after Avenatti released a document detailing some of Cohen’s private bank records, Cohen’s lawyers submitted a filing requesting that Avenatti be barred from appearing for spreading “misinformation.” They cited a few parts of Avenatti’s document that appear to have mistakenly conflated Cohen with a Canadian businessman who shares his name.
But the key information released by Avenatti has been confirmed by several major news outlets. It showed that Cohen set up a shell company to receive huge corporate payments and handle hush money payouts to his client, adult film star Stormy Daniels. Daniels alleges that she had an affair with President Trump in 2006.
Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/judge-orders-cohen-explain-why-avenatti-shouldnt-appear-hearing
= new reply since forum marked as read
