Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for adult film actress turned celebrity Stormy Daniels, has been arrested on suspicion of felony domestic violence. He rose to prominence by painting himself as a champion of women. A report of the alleged abuse was filed this past Tuesday, a Los Angeles police spokesman said.
Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, sued Donald Trump for defamation after he denied her assertion that she had a sexual encounter with him in 2006, but her lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge last month.
“We can confirm that today LAPD Detectives arrested Michael Avenatti on suspicion of domestic violence. This is an ongoing investigation and we will provide more details as they become available,” the LAPD Twitter account posted Wednesday.
“I wish to thank the hard-working men and woman of the LAPD for their professionalism they were only doing their jobs in light of the completely bogus allegations against me,” he said in the statement. “I have never been physically abusive in my life nor was I last night. Any accusations to the contrary are fabricated and meant to do harm to my reputation. I look forward to being fully exonerated.”
“I am not going to be intimidated from stopping what I am doing,” Avenatti told reporters Wednesday evening. “I am a father to two beautiful, smart daughters. I would never disrespect them by touching a woman inappropriately or striking a woman.”
TMZ first reported that Avenatti’s estranged wife filed a report with the LAPD after the alleged incident occurred on Tuesday. Yet in a statement, attorneys for Avenatti’s estranged wife contradicted TMZ’s report, asserting that she was not present in Avenatti’s apartment on the date of the alleged incident.
His law firm is now getting evicted.