Avenatti Demands Cohen Turn Over Any Stormy Daniels Audio Tapes

(Bloomberg) -- Adult-film star Stormy Daniels’s attorney told President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer he must turn over any audio recordings that may exist in which the actress is discussed.

Michael Cohen’s attorney Stephen Ryan "effectively admitted" in court on Wednesday that his client recorded telephone conversations with the actress’s former lawyer, Keith Davidson, her current lawyer Michael Avenatti said in a letter to Cohen Thursday. Any recording would be protected by attorney-client privilege, Avenatti said.

Ryan didn’t specifically affirm that such a recording existed during a hearing in federal court Wednesday on the FBI raid of Cohen’s home and office. He said that if any such recordings exist, they’re "under lock and key."

Davidson represented Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, just before the 2016 election when she signed a $130,000 "hush agreement" to keep quiet about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump. She sued earlier this year in California to get out of the deal.

"The law is clear that privileged matters that come into the hands of another person, inadvertently or otherwise, must be returned immediately to the holder of the privilege," Avenatti wrote.

At the hearing, Ryan accused Avenatti of a range of improper behavior, from appearing on television too much to discuss the case to failing to pay a multi-million settlement in an unrelated bankruptcy case in California.

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Paul Cox, Joe Schneider

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