Thread by @obarcala

Well, the receiver of Michael Avenatti's bankrupt law firm has appeared in the *second* bankruptcy action filed by Avenatti on March 7—he filed a joinder in the creditor's emergency motion to dismiss courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

The joinder motion makes it beyond clear that Avenatti did not have authority to file the petition. Worse, the receiver's affidavit says he expressly told Avenatti that he did not have that authority

The receiver believes the second bankruptcy was clearly filed to delay the deposition exam of Avenatti, which was scheduled for March 8, the day after Avenatti filed the petition

Receiver calls it "an archetypical bad faith bankruptcy filing"

He points out 9th Cir precedent holding that an unauthorized bk petition is "null and void" and must be dismissed

The same case found a petition filed by a CEO over objection of a receiver was "fraudulently filed"

I should point out that the receiver here is a neutral party. He doesn't (shouldn't) have an interest in the outcome of the bankruptcy. If you hesitated to take the creditor's word that the second petition wasn't authorized b/c the creditor is biased, that doesn't apply here

My own view (from the exhibits to the creditor's emergency motion to dismiss) is that it's obvious Avenatti didn't have authority to file. The first bankruptcy court entered an order saying the receiver has "the sole authority regarding whether to file a petition for bankruptcy"

Avenatti consented to entry of this order, so he couldn't have been unaware (unless he's such a bad attorney he doesn't read orders he consents to?)

So it definitely looks like the filing was in violation of a federal court order

And b/c filing a bankruptcy petition requires a signature attesting under the penalty of perjury that you've been "authorized to file this petition," it also looks like he committed perjury

It's not like there was a mistake here—the receiver went over the order w/ him and told him he was not authorized

And, uh, look at the fine print at the top—"Bankruptcy fraud is a serious crime." Fines up to $500k, prison time up to 20 yrs. Yeesh.

For Avenatti's part (from a motion to continue the emergency hearing), his argument seems to be that the court order (and his consent) are void b/c they were executed w/in 90 days of the second bankruptcy filing

That argument is, to pick a phrase at random, weak af

The bankruptcy code does allow claw back or rescission of transfers affecting debtor property w/in 90 days, but you'd have to be clinically insane (or hiding millions of dollars...) to think that applies to federal court orders

And, again, binding case law in the 9th Cir says a fraudulently filed petition is "null and void"—it can have no effect on Avenatti's prior agreement or the court order

The question remains, why would Avenatti do something in such transparent bad faith, risking enormous penalties for bankruptcy fraud? Just to delay his depo testimony?

Fun fact I learned recently—Avenatti's *first* bankruptcy was also filed on the eve of him giving testimony to the same creditor on the same debt

It was filed by an private investigator who worked with Avenatti. The judge said it had the "stench of impropriety"

At what point does avoiding a depo about millions in hidden assets become the most likely explanation for this increasingly odd series of events?

Prob got over my skis w/ this tweet. I could see A getting B to sue, knowing he'd file bankruptcy soon, & entering a sweetheart settlement as a way to hide assets. If a court signed an order on that, it could be clawed back. But this order doesn't transfer property, only control