Update, 7:20 p.m.: Michael Avenatti’s estranged wife released a statement through her lawyers that she was not the woman involved in the alleged incident of domestic violence. “My client and I have reviewed the TMZ article alleging that my client, Lisa Storie-Avenatti, has been injured and that Michael Avenatti has been arrested as a result of some incident that occurred between them. This article is not true as it pertains to my client,” the statement reads. “Ms. Storie-Avenatti was not subject to any such incident on Tuesday night. Further, she was not at Mr. Avenatti’s apartment on the date that this alleged incident occurred. My client states that there has never been domestic violence in her relationship with Michael and that she has never known Michael to be physically violent toward anyone.”
Original post: Lawyer Michael Avenatti, who made a name for himself taking on President Trump on behalf of former porn star Stormy Daniels, was arrested Wednesday in Los Angeles on suspicion of felony domestic violence against a woman, according to police.* TMZ broke the story of the arrest that has been confirmed by multiple outlets. Avenatti is reportedly still in custody as of Wednesday evening.
The exact details of what happened are yet to be confirmed, but from TMZ’s recounting of events it looks like the lawyer turned Democratic presidential hopeful’s rise to prominence as a public figure could be in jeopardy. According to TMZ’s reporting, Avenatti got into an altercation with a woman* Tuesday and kicked her out of an apartment in the Century City area of L.A. When the woman returned to the apartment on Wednesday there was a confrontation before the “the woman ran out of the apartment building and was on the sidewalk on her cellphone with sunglasses covering her eyes, screaming on the phone, ‘I can’t believe you did this to me,’” according to TMZ. “[Avenatti] showed up 5 minutes later, ran into the building, chasing after her. He screamed repeatedly, ‘She hit me first… This is bulls***, this is f***ing bulls***.’” The woman’s face was reportedly swollen and bruised, according to TMZ.*
*Update, Nov. 14, 2018, 7:20 p.m.: This post previously included reporting by TMZ that the domestic violence allegations were made by Michael Avenatti’s estranged wife, Lisa Storie-Avenatti. Storie-Avenatti has since released a statement that she was not involved in the event that led to Avenatti’s arrest. Mentions of her involvement have been removed from the post along with a reference to their marriage.
