Michael Avenatti Slams ‘Complete Garbage’ Daily Beast Article on ‘Extravagant’ Lifestyle
Michael Avenatti struck back at the Daily Beast this week, blasting the digital publisher’s recent unflattering reporting into his finances.
“The Daily Beast article is complete garbage and I wasn’t even permitted an opportunity to comment on 75 percent of the things in the article,” he said during a brief interview with local New Hampshire reporter Paul Steinhauser. “I’m happy to compare my finances and the way that I’ve led my life to that of Donald Trump.”
NEW: @MichaelAvenatti – on the ruling that he must pay $4.85 million to lawyer who worked at his former firm, predicts “the judgement is going to be thrown out.” The potential Dem. presidential contender says some “see me as a considerable threat & they should” #nhpolitics#FITNpic.twitter.com/HSNkvbGt1n
– Paul Steinhauser (@steinhauserNH1) October 23, 2018
Reps for the Daily Beast parent company IAC did not immediately respond to request for comment from TheWrap.
Avenatti also said the piece was broadly reflective of the “long knives” that were out for him now that he had expressed his presidential ambitions. “People see me as a considerable threat — and they should,” he said.
On Sunday, Daily Beast reporter Kate Briquelet wrote about Avenatti’s “extravagant” lifestyle before he became a household name, and about his record of not paying taxes.
“Civil court filings paint a picture of Avenatti as a hard-charging attorney who enjoyed the luxe life — jetting around the world to race cars with a Saudi prince and treating his wife and their friends to luxury villas in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico,” wrote Briquelet.
“Yet he and his companies owed hundreds of thousands in unpaid taxes and in compensation to one former colleague, who claims Avenatti stiffed him out of millions in law-firm profits,” she continued.
It’s not the first time Avenatti has gotten tough with the media following critical coverage. The lawyer even threatened legal action against several Daily Caller reporters in May.
“Let me be clear. If you and your colleagues do not stop with the hit pieces that are full of lies and defamatory statements, I will have no choice but to sue each of you and your publication for defamation,” Avenatti told Caller reporter Peter J. Hasson in an email.
“During that process, we will expose your publication for what it truly is. We will also recover significant damages against each of you that participated personally.”
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