It wasn’t his first violent attack, claims Mareli Miniutti the Estonian actress who creepy porn lawyer Michael Avenatti is accused of attacking. Last week Avenatti was charged with felony domestic violence and on Monday Nov. 19, Miniutti filed a restraining order against him. A hearing on the issue has been set for December 10.
The details of the attack laid out in court documents filed by Miniutti have leaked out and were published by The Daily Beast.
Per Miniutti, the Nov. 13 incident was not the first time Avenatti got violent with her. She claims he also attacked her this past February when “he became angry at her after drinking and pushed her into a hallway — where she hit her head — before throwing shoes at her.”
In the documents, Miniutti states that she is “afraid that [Avenatti] may cause harm to me and harass me.” She also gave her account of the incident:
“I was in the master bedroom of the apartment I shared with [Avenatti]. [He] entered the apartment’s master bedroom and began talking to me. We began arguing about money, and [he] called me an ‘ungrateful, f**king bitch’ and began to berate me.”
Miniutti said she left the bedroom and went to try and sleep in the guest bedroom alone.
She wrote: “[Avenatti] eventually followed me to the guest bedroom, getting very close to me in a threatening manner that made me afraid. [He] continued to call me names, and call me an ‘ungrateful bitch.’”
“[Avenatti] began forcefully hitting me in the face with pillows from the bed. He then said words to the effect of, ‘Do not disrespect me. You don’t get to sleep in my house tonight.’”
The actress claimed the famous lawyer then “grabbed” her right wrist: “[He] attempted to pull me out of the bed, which caused pain to my arm and wrist. While attempting to pull me out of the bed, [he] slipped and lost his grip on me.”
Miniutti said she began to text a friend on her cell phone but Avenatti allegedly “yelled” at her, grabbed the phone and screamed “this is my phone!” before putting it in his pocket.
She added: “At all times, he remained very close to me such that I was afraid for my safety. I screamed for help towards the nearby window.”
At this point, Miniutti — dressed in her underwear and a t-shirt — claims Avenatti grabbed her right arm and dragged her out of bed, along the floor of the apartment and out into the public hallway.
The actress said she “suffered scratches to the bare skin on my side and leg” and attached photos of her alleged injuries as exhibits to her court filing.
The actress says she tried to get help by ringing the doorbell of one of her neighbors but that Avenatti restrained her.
[Avenatti] then yelled at me, grabbed me by the arm again, and pulled me back into his apartment. [He] then blocked the door with his body and prevented me from leaving the apartment by holding the door shut.
She ran into the guest bedroom and dressed, then managed to leave the apartment and head for the elevator. She says Avenatti followed her and begged her not to tell anyone about what happened.
The court papers say that when Miniutti reached the ground floor, the people at the front desk of the building summoned security, who took her alone into another room to talk to her.
The next day, Nov. 14, Miniutti said she returned to the Century City apartment where staff allowed her to access Avenatti’s apartment. She locked the door and began to pack her belongings when she heard the door unlocking and Avenatti returned. She then went to the balcony and called the police and yelled at him to leave, which he did.
A short time later, she was told Avenatti had been arrested and she gave detectives another statement and left.
Avenatti contends the incident never happened, tweeting:
When the truth and the facts are fully disclosed, including the security camera footage, I will be vindicated and a lot of people and news organizations are going to owe me an apology as well as money. Completely bogus. Let’s start with TMZ’s reporting from last week.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) November 20, 2018
Cross posted at The Lid
