Avenatti collusion with ex-con
His law firm was abruptly forced into bankruptcy by a Florida man who claimed he was owed the relatively meager sum of $28,700.
The Florida bankruptcy judge who handled the case expressed surprise that such a minor debt could threaten to financially topple a multi-million-dollar law firm.
She also questioned the timing of the filing – two days before the deadline set for Avenatti and two other firm employees to be deposed in a long-running arbitration with a former partner, who said he was owed as much as $18 million by Eagan Avenatti.
The involuntary bankruptcy filing by the Florida man, Gerald Tobin, was a rare and obscure legal maneuver that had the effect of freezing the arbitration proceedings with the former partner. The result was that Avenatti avoided being questioned under oath in the proceeding.
The whole thing, the judge said, "had the stench of impropriety." That didn't have anything to do with Avenatti's firm, necessarily, she said. She referred to Tobin as a "screwy small creditor," and questioned whether he had "some relationship with the firm that would have induced a collusive filing" or if Avenatti's firm "just got plain lucky that somebody filed on the eve of arbitration."
In court papers, Avenatti's lawyers described Tobin as a "private investigator" who'd performed undisclosed services for Avenatti's firm.
But Tobin, 48, is no private investigator, a CNN investigation found.
He's a convicted felon whose rap sheet is 15 pages long and spans four decades, according to court records. He served time in prison in the early 90s and was arrested on domestic violence charges as recently as February. (He pleaded not guilty and the case is awaiting trial).
Attorney James Frank is a former partner of Avenatti who obtained a judgment against him and probably has some good dirt.
*Jason Frank