New York Daily News

FEDS: HE ROBBED STORMY

Avenatti in $300G rap

- BY STEPHEN REX BROWN AND DAVE GOLDINER

It wasn’t just Trump who screwed over Stormy Daniels.

Loudmouth lawyer Michael Avenatti allegedly stole nearly $300,000 from his porn star client and used the cash to splurge on travel and even payments for his flashy Ferrari.

Daniels’ onetime legal rep faked her signature to divert two payments of $148, 750 that were advances on her tellall book from her account to his own, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said.

“Michael Avenatti abused and violated the core duty of an attorney – the duty to his client,” Berman said. “Far from zealously representi­ng his client, Avenatti, as alleged, instead engaged in outright deception and theft.”

Daniels (photo) isn’t named in the court filing, but the details of the case, including the date her book was released, make it clear that she is the client involved.

Avenatti (above) denied the allegation­s on Twitter.

“No monies relating to Ms. Daniels were ever misappropr­iated or mishandled. She received millions of dollars worth of legal services and we spent huge sums in expenses,” he wrote, adding that Daniels only paid him $100 for legal services.

Avenatti was hit with aggravated identity theft and fraud charges for the Stormy rip-off.

He was also indicted on a separate extortion charge stemming from an effort to shake down Nike for $25 million. Avenatti allegedly demanded the payment from the sneaker giant in exchange for keeping a lid on supposed illicit payments to high school student athletes.

And in Los Angeles, he’s facing a multicount federal indictment alleging that he stole millions of dollars from clients, didn’t pay taxes, committed bank fraud and lied during bankruptcy proceeding­s. He could face up to 300 years behind bars on those charges alone.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, initially hired Avenatti to handle a lawsuit she filed last year in which she sought to invalidate the nondisclos­ure agreement she’d signed with Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen in exchange for $130,000.

The money was supposed to buy her silence about an alleged affair with the president, who denies that it took place. In August, Cohen pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws in connection with the payment.

Daniels first publicly raised concerns about Avenatti’s conduct in November.

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