‘Stormy’ lawyer’s ex-wife gets plane
LOS ANGELES •ASouthern California judge has transferred assets including an airplane and a Ferrari from porn actress Stormy Daniels’ lawyer as part of his divorce, according to court records obtained Thursday.
Orange County Judge Carol Henson on Tuesday ordered some of Michael Avenatti’s assets be liquidated and sold for back child and spousal support.
Although the total amount Avenatti owes is unclear, he was previously ordered to pay more than US$150,000 a month in child and spousal support.
In Tuesday’s order, Henson said Avenatti must pay at least US$80,000 to Lisa Storie-Avenatti on top of the transferred assets by Jan. 2.
Among those assets are a 2017 Ferrari GT Spider, five watches including a Rolex that retails for US$12,000, a sculpture by famed architect Frank Gehry and a sixseat business jet worth millions.
Avenatti’s attorney, Matt DeArmey, said the asset transfer is a standard part of divorce cases.
The 47-year-old Avenatti announced Tuesday that he’s not running for president following a few tumultuous weeks for the attorney, who has been a scathing critic of President Donald Trump.
Avenatti was arrested on Nov. 14 on a felony domestic violence charge stemming from allegations he roughed up a girlfriend.
Prosecutors declined to bring felony charges against him in the case, but they are still investigating whether he should face a misdemeanour charge. Avenatti has vehemently denied wrongdoing, calling the allegations bogus.
On Monday, Trump’s attorneys asked a judge for nearly US$800,000 in attorneys’ fees and penalties from Daniels for her failed defamation lawsuit, which was filed by Avenatti. Daniels has appealed the decision tossing the lawsuit, and Avenatti has said he expects to prevail at a higher court.
Avenatti tweeted that he made the decision not to run for president in 2020 at the urging of his family, and if not for their concerns, he would go for it.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, alleges she had a one-night affair with Trump in 2006. She sued him earlier this year seeking to break a nondisclosure agreement she signed days before the 2016 election about the tryst as part of a US$130,000 hush money settlement. Trump has denied the affair, but essentially acknowledged the payment to Daniels.
Despite the deal to stay quiet, Daniels spoke out publicly and alleged that five years after the affair she was threatened to keep quiet by a man she did not recognize in a Las Vegas parking lot. She also released a composite sketch of him.
She sued Trump for defamation after he responded to the allegation by tweeting: “A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!”