Michael Avenatti sued over claims he pilfered paraplegic's $4 million
Attorney and disgraced anti-Trump media gadfly Michael Avenatti has been sued again, this time over allegations he siphoned off a paraplegic client's $4 million settlement.
Avenatti's disabled client Geoffrey Johnson says the $4 million settlement was from the county of Los Angeles in January 2015, for injuries he received trying to commit suicide by jumping off of an elevated floor in a downtown Los Angeles jail.
Johnson's attempt to take his life was the second of two attempted suicides in the notoriously badly managed jail during August of 2011.
Geoffrey Johnson is seeking at least $9.5 million, plus punitive damages, from Avenatti and several former colleagues in his civil lawsuit filed with the Orange County Superior Court in California.
"I never thought I would get victimized by my own attorney," Johnson, who uses a wheelchair, said at a press conference on Thursday. "I wish he had just given me my money."
Johnson's claims are also part of federal prosecutors' criminal case against Avenatti, who has pleaded not guilty to wire fraud, bank fraud, extortion and other charges, including defrauding other clients, in California and New York.
"Mr. Johnson's claims are categorically false and frivolous, and his case will be thrown out of court," Avenatti said in an email.
Avenatti drew national attention through his representation of Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, in lawsuits against Trump and the president's former lawyer Michael Cohen, and briefly flirted with a 2020 White House run.
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