Woman tearfully testifies she nearly lost her home after Avenatti failed to pay settlement

While her attorney was being celebrated nationally as President Donald Trump's chief foe, Alexis Gardner was waiting for settlement money he owed her and wondering whether she was going to get evicted from her apartment.

In testimony Friday, she told jurors that she signed a retainer agreement and settlement documents without reading them closely and trusted that Michael J. Avenatti would take care of her.

"I thought he was fighting for me all the time. I thought he was working for me all the time. I was very confident that the person calling me was doing the things he said," Gardner testified.

Prosecutors say Avenatti bought a private jet with some of the $2.75 million he secured for Gardner in a dispute with her ex-boyfriend, the NBA player Hassan Whiteside. Avenatti, facing 10 counts of wire fraud, is accused of stealing roughly $10 million from five clients, including Gardner. He could face more than 10 years in prison if convicted. USA v. Avenatti, 8:19-CR-61 (C.D. Cal., filed April 10, 2019)

Proceedings started on a grim note Friday morning when Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett A. Sagel asked Gardener to identify Avenatti. The woman burst into sobs and gestured toward the attorney, who is representing himself, sitting at the counsel table.

Gardner testified that she was homeless in 2016, bouncing from place to place and sometimes sleeping in her car, when she met Avenatti. Her mother had suggested she hired Avenatti to sue Whiteside. She and Avenatti met at a Starbucks in West Hollywood. She signed a contingency fee agreement immediately without asking many questions and Avenatti helped her get into a hotel that evening.

After a long day of mediation, the case settled in 2017. That was around the same time that Avenatti's national star was rising because of his representation of the porn star known as Stormy Daniels who sued Trump.

Avenatti sketched out a few details of the settlement for Gardner at the end of the mediation but didn't go into details, she testified.

"He told me that everyone was trying to get out of there because we'd been there so long and he told me he'd sign it and that he'd get me a copy," Gardner testified.

Avenatti told Gardner that she would receive a lump sum payment, then $16,000 a month that would be directly deposited into her bank account for the first year, and $20,000 for next eight years. Avenatti never told her what that lump sum would be, she said.

He did, however, tell her that the settlement was confidential and that she couldn't tell anyone about it, not even her mother, Gardner testified.

Sagel showed the jurors the settlement agreement, which noted that $2.75 million payment would be made no later than Jan. 28, 2017, followed by $250,000 on Nov. 1, 2020. A paragraph in the contract stated that each party would have a chance to consult with their lawyer, and would be fully informed on the terms.

"When you signed this agreement, did you even know this paragraph was there?" Sagel asked, to which Gardner testified she did not. The prosecutor asked why she signed it.

"It was late, and everybody was trying to leave, and the lights were basically pretty much off in the building. I trusted my lawyer, and also trusted I'd get a copy of the agreement," Gardner said.

Later Avenatti helped her find an apartment and paid for a year's rent in advance.

"At any point did the defendant tell you that he used $2.5 million of your settlement money to buy a private plane?" he asked.

"No," Gardner said.

"Did you ever authorize the defendant to use your money to buy a private plane?"

"No," Gardner said.

Gardner testified that she stayed in contact with Avenatti for the next several months, because "one, he seemed to genuinely care about my well-being," but also, the monthly deposits suddenly stopped. Gardner testified she reached out to Avenatti asking where the money was. Eight months went by with no payment, she said. Avenatti continued to tell her he would handle it, get her the money, and find out what happened to the money and blamed the delay on Whiteside and his legal team.

A year and a half after the settlement was reached, deposits were still missing, Gardner said. Finally Avenatti told her that Whiteside's team weren't getting back to him and were being difficult, and told her that Whiteside's team were "assholes," and "my ex-boyfriend is an asshole, he really doesn't want me to succeed."

Gardner had plans to return to school and launch a music and acting career. Those plans were thrown into question with no money coming in, she said.

She said she started to feel sorry that she kept nagging him for help.

"Michael was all over the news. I felt like based on what he was dealing with in the public eye, that my problems were miniscule or small," Gardner testified. She sent another text message to Avenatti on Thanksgiving Day 2018, writing, "Hello my phenomenal lawyer, confidante and future president," and thanked him for all of his assistance.

Testimony resumes Tuesday morning at 9 a.m.