A representative of Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump‘s personal attorney, on Wednesday accused porn star Stormy Daniels‘ lawyer of leaking Cohen’s bank records.
Cohen’s lawyer, Stephen Ryan, accused the porn star’s representative, Michael Avenatti, of staging a “drive-by shooting of my client’s rights” by allegedly leaking the information.
The comments were made in Avenatti’s presence in Manhattan federal court, as part of a case currently sorting out which materials seized from Cohen in FBI raids last month are protected by attorney-client privilege.
Avenatti responded to Cohen, saying he and his client “did not do anything improper relating to the release of any information concerning Mr. Cohen.”
Earlier in May, Avenatti published a report alleging payments made to Cohen’s company, Essential Consultants, from large corporations including telecommunications giant AT&T and drug company Novartis, among others. Those companies both said in subsequent statements that they paid Cohen’s company.
Lawyers for Cohen had questioned in a previous court filing how Avenatti could have obtained the information, which appeared to be drawn from bank records known as “suspicious activity reports.”
“Mr. Avenatti has published some information that appears to be from Mr. Cohen’s actual bank records, and Mr. Cohen has no reason to believe that Mr. Avenatti is in lawful possession of these records,” the filing said.
Ryan, in court, called Avenatti’s conduct reckless, intentional and malicious.
Avenatti, a California-based lawyer, is attempting to represent Daniels in the New York case involving Cohen. Cohen’s lawyers have argued that the judge, Kimba Wood, should not permit Avenatti to intervene in this instance.
In an earlier tweet on Wednesday, Avenatti suggested that Cohen is leaking “illegally recorded conversations” related to Daniels.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
