The California Bar Association is investigating Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti for unpaid income taxes.
Big League Politics reported last week:
“Michael Avenatti, lawyer to Stormy Daniels, who owes $5 million in back taxes to the IRS, failed to pay any taxes at all pertaining to his law firm from 2014-2016. IRS records confirm that during the period in which he failed to pay income taxes, his firm made about $30 million. But Avenatti did not just evade income taxes. He also failed to pay his employees’ Medicare and Social Security taxes, also known as federal payroll taxes. While ignoring this $1.2 million tax bill, he pocketed millions.”
On Wednesday, Fox News reported that they relieved a letter, dated April 18, that confirms that the California Bar is investigating Avenatti for dodging his taxes.
“The complaint against attorney Michael J. Avenatti has been reviewed and forwarded to the Enforcement Unit for further investigation and prosecution, if warranted,” said the letter.
The letter was sent by Supervising Attorney Anand Kumar.
Out of the bevy of taxes that Avenatti has failed to pay, this investigation pertains specifically to the $5 million in back taxes that he owes from purchasing Tully’s Coffee under an entity called Global Baristas. The complaint was filed by another attorney, David Nold, on purely ethical grounds. It also claims that Avenatti transferred $100,000 from Tully’s Coffee to retain lawyers for his firm’s bankruptcy proceedings.
Here is part of the complaint:
“Global Baristas faced a lien for unpaid federal taxes worth roughly $5 million, claiming taxes were withheld from workers’ paychecks but not paid to the government,” according to the report.
The suspicion is that Avenatti simply pocketed withheld funds, which is quite unbecoming of an honest and humble attorney.
“The federal tax lien is related to an entity that was owned by another company that I used to have an interest in,” Avenatti told Fox News. “At no point in time was I ever responsible for any taxes for Global Baristas US LLC, nor was I ever a member of that entity, nor did I own any direct interest in that entity.”
Tully’s coffee shops have closed “temporarily” as Global Baristas deals with numerous lawsuits.