State Bar moves to inactivate Michael Avenatti's license

The State Bar filed a petition Monday to place embattled attorney Michael J. Avenatti on involuntary inactive status.

In an application for involuntary inactive enrollment, State Bar Senior Trial Counsel Eli D. Morgenstern asserted that Avenatti -- best known for his representation of Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, in her lawsuit against President Donald J. Trump -- misappropriated nearly $840,000 in settlement funds from another client, Gregory Barela, and gave him a fabricated settlement agreement.

Morgenstern wrote there is a "reasonable possibility" Avenatti will be disbarred in the State Bar Court petition. In the Matter of Michael John Avenatti, SBC-19-TE-30259 (State Bar Court, filed June 3, 2019).

Avenatti faces criminal charges in California and New York.

A grand jury indictment in the Central District of California charged him with 36 counts, including five counts of wire fraud alleging he stole $12 million from five clients, as well as bankruptcy fraud and tax evasion. United States v. Avenatti, 19-CR0061 (C.D. Cal., filed April 10, 2019).

Avenatti took to Twitter Monday evening to call the bar's action a "pile on".

"I offered to cooperate with the bar and instead they decided to issue a press release as a stunt," he wrote. "I look forward to being fully exonerated by the facts."