Attorneys for Michael Avenatti revealed that the lawyer can no longer afford his legal counsel ahead of his criminal trials set to take place later this year.
Lawyer Dean Steward filed a motion in federal court on Saturday asking the judge to approve taxpayer funding to stay on as Avenatti’s attorney under regulations that assist indigent clients. Steward argued that receiving taxpayer funding would be a cheaper alternative for the federal government than having Avenatti switch to a public defender, who would have to restart the cases.
“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.
Steward said that Avenatti “does not have funds to pay counsel” and said that allowing him to stay on the case as the attorney rather than appointing a public defender would “save considerable taxpayer funds, over starting fresh with new … counsel.”
Avenatti was previously represented by the federal public defender’s office after his first legal team dropped him because he could not afford their legal fees. Steward picked up Avenatti’s case from the public defender’s office shortly after he was dropped by his first legal team.
Avenatti, who became famous while representing adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her lawsuits against President Trump, faces more than 30 charges for fraud, tax evasion, and other crimes and is awaiting two trials for allegedly stealing Daniels’s book advance and committing fraud in California.
He was also found guilty of extorting Nike earlier this year, but he has not yet been sentenced in the case. He was being held behind bars but has since been released because of the coronavirus pandemic and has since been staying with a childhood friend in Southern California.
