Stormy Daniels May Lose Crowdfunded $570K in Avenatti Bankruptcy

The $577,000 that Stormy Daniels has crowdfunded to pay her legal fees in her suit against President Donald Trump could be seized to pay for a judgement against one of Michael Avenatti’s other law firms, according to the Los Angeles Times. On Monday, lawyer Jason Frank asked a judge to help him collect the $10 million judgement he won against Avenatti’s Newport Beach firm, Eagan Avenatti, last month, by forcing the company to give him all legal fees that may be collected from 54 clients. Although Daniels is not a client of Eagan Avenatti (she works with another Avenatti firm, Avenatti & Associates), Michael Avenatti often used his Eagan Avenatti email address—and identified himself with the company—in correspondence with Trump’s lawyers. Frank argues that this constitutes enough of a connection that Eagan Avenatti has the rights to Daniels’ money, which also means that the firm could be forced to surrender said money to pay for the judgement. Daniels has been crowdfunding this money since March, the Times notes, to help her cover “legal bills, security costs and any damages she might be ordered to pay Trump” for breaking their nondisclosure agreement.