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Stormy Daniels Trial Avenatti Is Pro Se In
US Seeks To Block Some Questions To
Daniels
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
Song
Radio
BBC
- Decrypt
- LightRead - Order
Affidavit
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Jan 25 – Michael Avenatti's
financial affidavit to get a
publicly paid lawyer for his
Stormy Daniels case, which
Inner City Press formally
sought to have unsealed for
eleven months, were on July
27, 2021 ordered unsealed. Order.
Podcast here.
Aug 13 podcast here.
On the
weekend before trial there's
was a request to delay it, on
COVID policy and
Constitutional grounds. It was
denied.
The trial
started on the morning of
January 24. Inner City Press
live tweet here.
It continued in the afternoon,
with Stormy Daniels' literary
agency Lucas Janklow being
cross examined about being
introduced to Michael Avenatti
at a hotel bar, by Anderson
Cooper. Inner City Press live
tweeted, thread here;
stream here,
video here
On January 25,
the cross examination of
Janklow continues, then an
SDNY Special Agent and
Avenatti law firm staffer. But
in the middle, Federal
Defenders said Avenatti may
want to fire them and
represent himself. Judge
Furman said, Not so fast.
Inner City Press live tweeted
it, thread here
In the
afternoon, Avenatti confirmed
he wants to represent himself
and Judge Furman granted it.
He will cross examine Stormy
Daniels, then. Inner City
Press live tweeted it, thread
here
and below.
After court on
January 25, at 8 pm, the US
Attorney Office put in a
letter seeking to block
Avenatti from questioning
Daniels about IRS and child
support issues, her previous
representation by Keith M.
Davidson and other cases
Avenatti represented her in.
Letter here.
It's Avenatti now, who must
respond. Watch this site.
From the afternoon of January 25:
They're back. Avenatti: I'm making a formal
request to represent myself and cross examine
Ms. Regnier.
Avenatti: There has been a breakdown of
communication with my lawyers. I have superior
knowledge about what she testified about. I've
heard your Honor's rulings on my counsel's
performance. I am still technically a member
of the bar, I represented myself in California
Avenatti: Judge Selna allowed me to
represent myself. Under my 5th and 6th
Amendment rights, and under Faretta, I request
to represent myself. I am ready to cross
examine now. Judge Furman: Do we take this up
now? AUSA: We prefer the end of the day.
Judge Furman: Let's deal with it now.
You have a right to represent yourself. But it
cannot be for delay. It must be timely. I'd
like you to know that these Federal Defenders
are able. There will be serious consequences
if this is mishandled.
Judge Furman: There is no veiled threat
here - the choice is yours. But you do not
have the right to manipulate these
circumstances. You cannot go back and forth.
Judge Furman: This is an important moment in
the case. If you decide to represent yourself
I will appoint your existing lawyers as
stand-by counsel to help you. [Note:
Accused CIA leaker Josh Schulte is trying to
fire his stand-by counsel, here
Judge Furman: You would not be permitted to
essentially testify to the jury without taking
the witness stand. You would not be permitted
to abuse the dignity of the court [or of
witnesses - Stormy?]
Judge Furman: Would you like time? Avenatti:
May I have 15 minutes? Judge Furman: No. You
have five minutes, or we'll take it up at the
end of the day.
Judge Furman: How do you want to
proceed? Avenatti: I am prepared to proceed
and represent myself. I have one question - I
am asking that the jury be instructed that
"Mister Avenatti has decided to assist in his
defense." Judge Furman: No, I'm not accepting
hybrid
Judge Furman: Now I need to ask about your
education, alcohol or drugs. Hospitalized for
mental illness? Avenatti: I was hospitalized
for surgeries. Judge Furman: Alcohol in
the last 48 hours? Avenatti: One drink last
night. Judge Furman: Clear mind? A: Yes.
Judge Furman: Did you graduate from law
school? Avenatti: Yes. That was the end of my
education. Judge Furman: Tell me about the
case before Judge Selna.
Avenatti: I invoked my pro se right just
before the jury was sworn. The case resulted
in a mistrial. Judge Furman: Are you familiar
with the Federal Rules of Evidence? Avenatti:
Yes. Judge Furman: And with the Federal Rules
of Criminal Procedure? Avenatti: Less than
Evidence, but yes.
AUSA: Mr. Avenatti cross examined this
witness at length in California. Judge Furman:
There may be some gamesmanship here, but if I
let him represent himself, there will be no
going back.
Judge Furman: I find he is competent, I
find that he may and will be representing
himself.
Now jury is entering. Judge Furman will
give new instruction: Judge Furman: Jurors,
Mr. Avenatti will represent himself for the
duration of the trial. He will be the one
making the objections, questioning witnesses
and making a closing statement.
Judge Furman: Don't speculate why he has
made this decision. We will proceed with the
direct of Ms. Regnier. AUSA: Let's look at the
last paragraph of GX 2. Please read it.
Regnier: We've raised $592,000... AUSA:
Where were you working from? Avenatti:
Objection!
Judge Furman: Overruled. Regnier: I was
working from home. The law firm was evicted.
Avenatti: Your Honor, may I have a standing
objection to this? Judge Furman: You may.
AUSA: How long had the law firm not paid rent?
Regnier: 5 months.
Judge Furman: Cross examination.
Avenatti: Ms. Regnier, who is Luke Janklow?
Regnier: I have no personal knowledge.
Avenatti: Who is Sally Richardson? Regnier: I
have no idea. Avenatti: What do you know about
Ms. Daniels' book deal? Regnier: Nothing.
Avenatti: What do you know about the book
advance payments? Regnier: No knowledge.
Avenatti: Did you communicate with Ms.
Daniels? Regnier: Never directly. And my
emails were not responded to. Avenatti: So, no
response - true? Regnier: True.
Avenatti: Who at our firm was
responsible for communications with Ms.
Daniels? Regnier: You were. Avenatti: Let's
turn to -- Judge Furman: You're too close to
the microphone.
Avenatti: So this contract says if we
negotiated a book deal for Ms. Daniels we
would be responsible for a reasonable fee,
right? Regnier. Right. Avenatti: And my time
would be billed at $850 a hour or more, right?
Regnier: Yes.
Avenatti: You used a program called TABS,
right? Regnier: Yes. Avenatti: TABS was
to see how much time was spent in the legal
representation, right? AUSA: Objection -
relevance. Judge Furman: Sustained.
Avenatti: Your Honor, could I have a
sidebar? Judge Furman: No(pe). Avenatti: Mr.
Regnier, we also used Quickbooks, yes? AUSA:
Objection! Judge Furman: Overruled.
venatti: The Legal Defense Funds, it was set
up with Crowd Justice, not GoFundMe as you
said earlier? Regnier: I don't remember.
Avenatti: You don't know what % of those money
belonged to the firm, and what % to Ms.
Daniels, right? Regnier: I don't know that.
Avenatti: Who from the government interviewed
you? Regnier: Mr Sobelman, an FBI agent,
others. Avenatti: Did they ever ask you
about the costs of the Daniels representation?
Regnier: No.
Avenatti: Do you remember the firm's verdict
over $400 million? AUSA: Objection! Judge
Furman: Overruled. Avenatti: That the Daily
Journal said we were number one? AUSA:
Objection. Judge Furman: Sustained
Avenatti: Are you aware of any money I put to
an improper purpose? AUSA: Objection! Judge
Furman (after a pause) Sustained. Avenatti:
You testified I put Ms. Daniels' funds to my
personal use. Please state the date &
payee. Regnier: I don't have that information.
Avenatti: While you were at the firm you were
paid well, were you not? AUSA: Objection.
Judge Furman: Sustained. Avenatti: You were
the highest paid non attorney at the law firm,
right? AUSA: Objection. Avenatti: Goes to
bias. Judge Furman: I'll allow it.
Avenatti: One year you got a bonus over
$100,000, correct? Regnier: Yes, but --
Avenatti: Move to strike everything after Yes
as non-responsive. Didn't I pay to sent you
and your husband to Cabo? Regnier: You did.
Avenatti: Let's talk about contingency
fee agreements - 25% to 45% of the recovery,
right? Regnier: Right. Judge Furman: Please
wrap up this line of questions. Avenatti: I
just have one more in this line, then I'll
move on.
Judge Furman: How much more time? Avenatti: An
hour or an hour and a half. Ms. Regnier, you
can remember at least $100 million in wins,
no? Judge Furman: Sustained. This is
testimony.
Avenatti: Did you think our firm's legal
work was of a high quality? AUSA: Objection.
Judge Furman: Sustained. Avenatti: There was
another lawsuit against Keith Davidson, Ms.
Daniels former lawyer, filed in CA?
Regnier: Yes. Avenatti: And a lawsuit against
a strip club in Florida, yes? Regnier: I
remember that. Avenatti: A false arrest in
Columbus, Ohio too? Regnier: Yes.
Avenatti: And Ms. Daniels accused two
long term friends of stealing from her, right?
AUSA: Objection. Judge Furman: Sustained.
Avenatti: In preparing to testify today,
did you make an effort to look at the
electronic files concerning the firm's
representation of Ms. Daniels? Regnier: I
looked at the documents provided to me, that's
all.
At 3 pm on the nose, Judge Furman wishes
the jurors a very pleasant evening. We'll stay
to cover any lawyer arguments - then run down
to see if we catch Avenatti talking and
walking like yesterday. Watch this feed.
Update: Some delay in Avenatti-Watch out on
Worth Street - Judge Furman has told him to go
with court staff and get a COVID test, as
required of witnesses and counsel who want to
question or speak without masks.
On January 24
Inner City Press rushed down
to see if Avenatti speaks, as
before, on Worth Street
He did:
stream here,
video here
Judge
Furman released his juror
questions, asking each side to
respond by January 19 at 10
am. The questions include:
"Based on anything that you
have read, seen, or heard
about Mr. Avenatti, have
you formed any opinions
about Mr. Avenatti that might
make it difficult for you to
be a fair and impartial
juror in this case? 10.
Would you have any trouble
following my instructions to
put anything you may
have read, seen, or
heard about Mr. Avenatti out
of your mind and decide this
case based only on the
evidence presented at
trial? 11. Do you or
does any member of your family
or a close friend personally
know or have past or
present dealings with the
alleged victim in this case,
Ms. Clifford (also known
as “Stormy Daniels”), or
with any of her family
members?...
"Do you know or
have you heard of any of the
following people or entities,
which include the
lawyers in this case, people
who may testify at the trial,
and other names that may
be mentioned during the
course of the trial? •
Pamela Baez • Elizabeth Beier
• Thomas Bolus • Clark
Brewster • Christine Carlin •
Michaela Catando (also known
as Kayla Paige) • Dmitri
Chitov • Dwayne Crawford •
Jennifer Donovan • Anna Finkel
• Mark Geragos • Jack
Guiragosian • Holtzbrinck
Publishers • Luke Janklow •
Janklow & Nesbit
Associates • Geoffrey Johnson
• Global Baristas • Sean
Macias • Macmillan Publishers
• Susan McClaran • Benjamin
Meiselas • Travis Miller •
Mareli Miniutti • Erik Nathan
• Denver Nicks • Kevin Carr
O’Leary • David Padilla •
Brandon Parraway • Pro Tech
Security and Automation • Judy
Regnier • Sally Richardson •
Security and Automation LLC •
St. Martin’s Press • Enrique
Santos • Jessica Volchko •
Juliet Vicari • Donald Vilfer
25. Are you familiar with
anyone else present in the
courtroom, including your
fellow jurors, all Court
personnel, and myself?"
On October 14
Judge Furman held a proceeding
in the Stormy Daniels case and
Inner City Press live tweeted
it here
and podcast here
On August 10
Avenatti's Federal Defenders
filed a copy of the affidavit
with multiple redactions. The
form refers on nearly every
question to an attachment,
which is blacked out in absurd
ways. It reads, for example,
"I own stock in two closely
held companies that may have
value: (a) [REDACTED] located
in [REDACTED]
and (b) [REDACTED]
located in [REDACTED]...
I technically
still have an
interest in a
private
aircraft
(model:
HondaJet 420)
that was
seized by the
IRS and is
still in their
possession.
This interest
is held
through a
single-purpose
entity named [REDACTED],"
and so forth.
Inner
City
Press
published the
redacted
affidavit on
its
DocumentCloud
here
and asked,
Will the Court
be accepting
this?
On
August 11, the
correct answer
was: No. "MEMO
ENDORSEMENT as
to Michael
Avenatti (1)
on [139]
LETTER MOTION
re: [139]
LETTER MOTION
addressed to
Judge Jesse M.
Furman from
Robert Baum,
Tamara Giwa
& Andrew
Dalack dated
August 10,
2021 re:
Letter Motion
In Response to
Court's Order
to File
Financial
Affidavit.
ENDORSEMENT:
The Court is
unpersuaded
that privacy
interests
justify
redacting the
names and
locations of
the corporate
entities in
Paragraphs 14,
15, and 17 of
ECF No.
139-1."
After hours on
August 12,
some
redactions
were removed:
Avenatti's owned
a plane
through
Passport 420
LLC; an
unnamed
"non-family-member
acquaintance"
paid a
NY-based
attorney in
the Nike case,
whose name is
redacted.
Unredacted:
Avenatti owns
stock in
Tyrian Systems
(aka Seek
Thermal) of
Santa Barbara,
CA and
Centurion
Holdings I,
LLC of St.
Louis
Missouri."
Not
so fast. Inner
City Press
research in
the hours
after the
removal of the
improper
redactions found
that Centurion
Holdings I,
LLC is based
in Arnold,
Missouri - and
"received a
PPP loan of
$60,477 in
May, 2020."
That's the
Paycheck
Protection
Program; the
funds came
through the
Central Bank
of St. Louis.
Bigger,
the aka: "Seek
Thermal, Inc
of 6300
Hollister Ave
in Goleta,
California received
a
Coronavirus-related
PPP loan from
the SBA of
$1,365,062.00
in April,
2020." We'll
have more on
this.
Watch
this site.
On August
27, Inner City Press filed a
formal request that documents
in the case not be sealed,
full filing on Patreon here.
On
November 12, Inner City Press
made a third filing with Judge
Furman, on a decision
to unseal issued earlier in
the day by SDNY Judge J. Paul
Oetken after Inner City Press
filed to similarly unseal Lev
Parnas' co-defendant David
Correia's financial infor: "we
again ask, why should lower
income and less high profile
defendants in the SDNY -- and
now David Correia -- have
their financial information so
disclosed while Avenatti's
information is sealed in its
entirety? The documents at
issue should not be sealed and
should be made available."
On August
28, 2020 Judge Furman entered
an order: "The Court received
the attached communication
from Matthew Lee of Inner City
Press “seeking leave to be
heard and for the unsealing of
the CJA Form 23, affidavit,
and all associated documents”
relating to this litigation.
To the extent that Mr. Lee
(who is admitted to the bar of
the Southern District of New
York) seeks leave to be heard,
his application is GRANTED.
The Court reserves judgment on
the question of whether
Defendant’s CJA Form 23 and
related documents should be
unsealed. SO ORDERED. Dated:
August 28, 2020 New York, New
York JESSE M. FURMAN." Docket
No. 85, on Inner City Press'
DocumentCloud, here.
On July
27, 2021, Judge Furman four
times citing Inner City Press
ordered
Avenatti's affidavits
unsealed: "Avenatti filed a
letter brief arguing that the
Initial Financial Affidavit
should remain under seal. ECF
No. 80 (“Def.’s Mem.”).
Thereafter, the Court received
submissions from Inner City
Press, a media outlet that
intervened to seek disclosure
of the Financial Affidavits,
ECF Nos. 85, 90, 99... The
Defendant initially argued
that the Government lacked
standing “to assert any right
on behalf of the public to
access Mr. Avenatti’s sworn
financial statements.” Def.’s
Mem. 7 n.1 (citing United
States v. Hickey, 185 F.3d
1064 (9th Cir. 1999)).
Subsequently, however, the
Court granted leave to Inner
City Press to be heard on the
Defendant’s motion, ECF No.
85, which indisputably does
have standing to assert such
rights." Full order here,
filings due August 10. Watch
this site.
This case is US v. Avenatti, 19-cr-374
(Furman).
***
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