Attorney Michael Avenatti, right, poses with Mareli Miniutti for a photo at a party in New York.
(AP)
The actress who was granted a temporary restraining order against attorney Michael Avenatti claimed that he "dragged" her on the floor and put her into a public hallway dressed only in a T-shirt and underwear, a report said, citing court documents.
In a sworn declaration, Mareli Miniutti, 24, said she and Avenatti, 47, dated from October 2017 to Nov. 13, the night Avenatti allegedly hit her in the face with pillows and followed her into a guest bedroom where she went to sleep alone, the New York Times reported.
Miniutti said they had an argument about money in his Los Angeles apartment.
“He dragged me on the floor of the apartment towards and out of the door into the public hallway,” she wrote in the declaration. “I was wearing only my underwear and a T-shirt at the time, and suffered scratches to the bare skin on my side and leg.”
Avenatti pulled Miniutti back into the apartment and blocked the door, the declaration reportedly said. She eventually left and said she spoke with building security. A friend picked her up and she called the police, the report said. The court filing includes photos that appears to show bruising and scratches, the paper reported.
Miniutti did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment.
Avenatti was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence the next day and a judge granted Miniutti’s request for a temporary restraining order this week.
Avenatti denied the claims in a series of tweets Monday. He said he has never abused a woman and has called for the release of video footage from the building’s security cameras.
“I am a target,” he said. “And I will be exonerated.”
In a separate episode, Miniutti also claimed Avenatti had been drinking and pushed her out of a different apartment into a hallway, threw shoes at her and struck her in the leg.
She reportedly said the high-profile lawyer “has a history of being very verbally abusive and financially controlling towards me,” and that he “made promises to ‘take care of me’ financially and sometimes fails to follow through.”
A fierce critic of President Donald Trump, Avenatti has advocated on behalf of women’s rights and represented adult-film star Stormy Daniels, in a legal dispute against Trump.
“I continue to be afraid of” Avenatti, she wrote, according to the paper, "and do not want him to contact me."
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