| After
Avenatti Finances Unsealed By Inner City
Press Now US Wants In His Failure to File
Taxes
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
Song
Radio
BBC
- Decrypt
- LightRead - Order
Affidavit
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Dec 10 – 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 ordered unsealed. Order.
Podcast here.
Aug 13 podcast here.
Late on
December 9 both Avenatti and
the prosecutors filed with
motions in limine in advance
of the Stormy Daniels trial.
Avenatti wants to preclude
introduction as evidence of
some of his and others'
statements. The US wants in
evidence of Avenatti's and his
law firm's financial situation
and Avenatti's failure to file
income tax returns, among
other things. We will cover
Judge Furman's rulings.
Reaching
back to his conviction in the
Nike case, on December 2 this
lawyers wrote to Judge Paul G.
Gardephe seeking an indicative
ruling on the Brady violations
identified in his California
case, to "help" the Second
Circuit. It cites the report
of John Drum about his law
firm's finances, that he was
not in fact desperate for a
payola from Nike. But will it
work? Watch this site.
On August 27
Avenatti's Federal Defenders
wrote to Judge Furman to
arguing that, now that
Avenatti's iPad has been
accessed by DOJ, they do not
want the DOJ taint-team
involved. They asked for Judge
Furman himself to get involved
in the review.
On September 9,
Avenatti's motions were
denied. Full order here.
On November
18 a sealed document was
"placed in the vault," with a
listing in the docket for a
motion arguing for it: "LETTER
MOTION addressed to Judge
Jesse M. Furman from Robert
Baum, Andrew Dalack, Tamara
Giwa dated 11/18/21 re: Motion
for In Camera Inspection of
Complainant's Mental Health
Records . Document filed by
Michael Avenatti."
But even as
to the motion, PACER says "You
do not have permission to view
this document." So even the
argument for sealing is
sealed?
On November 10,
the trial date moved up again:
"AMENDED SCHEDULING ORDER as
to Michael Avenatti: The
Court's trial calendar has
changed since the Scheduling
Order of November 2, 2021. See
ECF No. 156. As a result, the
trial date in this matter is
hereby advanced by two weeks,
as are all of the
corresponding pretrial
deadlines (give or take a day
or two due to Court holidays
and the like). Specifically,
the new trial date and
pretrial deadlines are as
follows. Unless and until the
Court orders otherwise, trial
in this case shall begin (in a
courtroom to be determined
when trial gets closer) on
Monday, January 24, 2022, at
9:30 a.m. As counsel know,
that date is contingent on the
Court being allocated that
date through the centralized
trial scheduling process now
in effect. For avoidance of
doubt, however, the parties
should treat January 24, 2022,
as a firm trial date."
Later on
November 10, Federal Defender
Robert Baum wrote to Judge
Furman asking to push the
trial back to February 7 or "a
later date in February or
March, 2022," citing US v.
Russo, 21-cr-271 starting on
January 17.
On November 3 in
the Nike case, Avenatti's
surrender date was pushed back
to February 28: "MEMO
ENDORSEMENT as to Michael
Avenatti re: [353]
Modification of Surrender
Date... ENDORSEMENT: The
application is granted.
Defendant Michael Avenatti's
surrender date is adjourned
from December 15, 2021 to
February 28, 2022. SO ORDERED.
(Signed by Judge Paul G.
Gardephe on 11/3/21)."
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
to 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).
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA
Mail: Box 20047, Dag
Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2020 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com for
|
,
