First his coffee company goes sideways, now this. The way this guy manages money, he’s a lock to be in Congress someday.

Which reminds me: Between his total ubiquity on television, his blustery threats to sue media outlets over unflattering coverage, and his business bankruptcy problems, are we sure Avenatti and Trump aren’t related?

Sometimes partisan schadenfreude flows in a trickle and sometimes it floweth in a mighty stream.

The law firm of Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti was hit with a $10-million judgment Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court after he broke his promise to pay $2 million to a former colleague.

Judge Catherine Bauer of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana ordered the Eagan Avenatti law firm to pay the $10 million to Jason Frank, a lawyer who used to work at the Newport Beach firm…

At the hearing, the U.S. Justice Department revealed that Avenatti’s firm has also defaulted on back taxes that it promised to pay the Internal Revenue Service under another bankruptcy settlement…

Under the Jan. 30 bankruptcy settlement, Avenatti personally agreed to pay the IRS $2.4 million in back taxes, penalties and interest, court records show.

Pet the LAT, Avenatti had “personally guaranteed” that $2 million would be paid last week to Frank to settle the firm’s bankruptcy. Didn’t happen. Avenatti also “personally agreed” to pay the IRS $2.4 million in back taxes owed but allegedly missed the latest installment. Is he … hurting for cash for some reason? If in fact there are no wealthy liberal patrons covering Stormy’s legal fees who can front him the money, surely he can crowdfund his way out of this hole via the hashtag-Resistance.

Avenatti’s position on today’s news: Who cares?

Nonsense. Completely different law firm – no ties to Daniels case. Irrelevant. Over blown. Sensational reporting at its finest. Check the facts next time please and report accurately.

— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) May 22, 2018

Totally different firm (his current firm is Avenatti & Associates) and no connection to the Daniels case. This isn’t news! Except…

1. According to the Times, Avenatti “has repeatedly sent emails to The Times about the Daniels case from an Eagan Avenatti email address, with Eagan Avenatti below the signature line.” Avenatti himself found it quite significant when Michael Cohen was caught sending emails to Stormy Daniels’s prior lawyer from his Trump Organization address. It seems that sometimes a corporate signature is relevant when discerning whether that firm is connected to a legal matter and sometimes it isn’t.

2. Avenatti’s rules about whether something is or isn’t relevant to the Stormy Daniels case also seem to shift as his needs require. For instance, here he is tweeting last week about the reports of an FBI informant on Russiagate interacting with Trump’s campaign in 2016:

Mr. Trump and Mr. Giuliani politicizing and attacking the conduct of the FBI and the DOJ without any legitimate basis is insulting to those that work there and dangerous to our nation. Ask Giuliani what he thought of informants when it came time to sentence Mr. Boesky. #Basta

— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) May 21, 2018

What’s that got to do with Stormygate? Is Stefan Halper a witness to Trump’s and Stormy’s affair or something? This looks like Avenatti dunking on Trump and Giuliani for no better reason than that he disdains both, whether for reasons legal or political (or likely both). Why shouldn’t righties dunk on him over his firm’s bankruptcy for the same reason? If you’ve going to throw mud at POTUS unrelated to the case you’re working on, you’re going to get some back.

3. Critics have wondered for months how Avenatti is being compensated for representing Daniels, believing that it’s unlikely she can afford a bigshot like him given all the work he’s done for her and knowing that many a well-heeled Democrat is savoring every moment of the discomfort he’s causing Trump and Michael Cohen. Avenatti denies that he’s getting any money from partisan moneybags but it’s natural that there’d be interest on the right in his finances given the growing stakes and hyper-partisan polarization of the Daniels case. In a way, as embarrassing as today’s judgment is for him, it supports his claim that rich liberals aren’t showering him with cash. If they were, would he have had trouble paying these debts?

On the other hand:

Except I'm not paying him. Haha!

— Stormy Daniels (@StormyDaniels) April 26, 2018

Exit question: Will Avenatti flash another bogus defamation-suit threat at the LA Times? I’d lay odds at around 40 percent.