After Being Evicted, Avenatti Now Hit with Restraining Order from Girl Half His age
Autumn has been a cruel season to Michael Avenatti. As seems to always be with him, the cruelty is of the self-inflicted sort.
As summer turned to fall, it’s worth reminding ourselves where Avenatti stood. He was being seriously, or semi-seriously, discussed as a 2020 presidential aspirant. He had one client who was supposed to take down President Donald Trump and another that he said would take down then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. He appeared on cable news almost as if he were wandering the halls and just dropping in on shows.
The collapse of the Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick’s story — and Avenatti’s referral for a criminal investigation to the Department of Justice and the FBI — was apparently just the beginning of a particularly wretched fall, in both senses of the word. The unraveling seemed to be complete last week when Avenatti was arrested on domestic violence charges. And then he was evicted from his legal offices for not paying over $200,000 in back rent.
Now, the actress who has accused Avenatti of domestic assault has filed a restraining order against the 47-year-old attorney.
Celebrity gossip site The Blast reported the “actress Mareli Miniutti filed for a domestic violence restraining order against Avenatti Monday in Los Angeles.
“Miniutti is an actress in her 20s, originally from Estonia, and most recently scored a cameo in ‘Ocean’s Eight.'”
“A hearing on the restraining order has been set for next month.”
Actress Mareli Miniutti files restraining order against Michael Avenatti https://t.co/Fy2S8lvoY5 pic.twitter.com/2uJ5bPsZPE
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) November 20, 2018
Avenatti was initially arrested on domestic assault charges on Wednesday in a case that TMZ had erroneously reported involved his ex-wife, Lisa Storie-Avenatti.
It would later be revealed that Miniutti is instead the individual involved — a woman young enough to be Avematti’s daughter.
In the light of this latest evidence, Avenatti proved yet again that he doesn’t #BelieveAllWomen:
I look forward to a full clearing of my name and disclosure of all of the facts. I have NEVER abused a woman or committed domestic violence against anyone. Any claim to the contrary is completely bogus and fabricated. I am a target. And I will be exonerated.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) November 20, 2018
“I look forward to a full clearing of my name and disclosure of all of the facts,” he tweeted.
“I have NEVER abused a woman or committed domestic violence against anyone. Any claim to the contrary is completely bogus and fabricated. I am a target. And I will be exonerated.”
Right. Why would anyone believe a single word that came out of the mouth of this scuzzball? Before this, Avenatti would have been rejected by central casting as a stock sleazy lawyer character on the basis he was too contrived. And yet, this was a guy being considered as a 2020 Democrat hopeful. Ponder that.
Oh, and he hasn’t given up hopes of that incipient 2020 run due to his domestic violence arrest, texting a USA Today reporter that he was “still considering it.”
“I will not be intimidated,” Avenatti said. “The measure of a person is how they get up when they are knocked down.”
That may not be the best choice of words for a man who allegedly told police, according to TMZ, that “she hit me first.”
With decisions like that, he could really use an attorney. One wonders where he can avail himself of one.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
