https://heavy.com/news/2018/03/michael-avenatti-worth-bankruptcy-divorce-taxes/

The involuntary bankruptcy case from a 2007 Avenatti firm, Eagen Avenatti has not gotten much press save for in law and business journals. The case involves a creditor, possibly a private investigator once employed by the firm named Gerald Tobin, who filed an ‘involuntary’ bankruptcy petition for a relatively small claim amount against Eagan Avenatti. Once a petition is filed in a bankruptcy court, the debtor has to respond usually within 20 to 30 days.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-avenatti-bankruptcy-florida-20180601-story.html#

Michael Avenatti was caught in a downward spiral of financial trouble last year when Jerry Tobin, an unlikely savior, came to the rescue. Tobin, who has a long arrest record and sports a mohawk in his mug shots, showed up at a UPS Store in Orlando, Fla., put down two $100 bills and rented a mailbox. The next day, using his new anonymous address, Tobin filed a court petition to force Avenatti’s Newport Beach law firm into bankruptcy. The firm, Eagan Avenatti, owed him $28,700, Tobin claimed.

It was just what Avenatti needed, exactly when he needed it.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Karen Jennemann immediately questioned whether Eagan Avenatti was colluding with Tobin on a bad-faith bankruptcy aimed at stalling the arbitration — or “just got plain lucky.”

https://www.bustedmugshots.com/florida/orlando/gerald-melson-tobin/210176462