Michael Avenatti fired his lawyers in court and is now representing himself against Stormy Daniels

• Michael Avenatti fired his lawyers in the middle of his fraud trial.
• Avenatti said he will now represent himself against his former client Stormy Daniels.

Michael Avenatti fired his lawyers on Tuesday and wants to represent himself in his high-stakes fraud trial against his former client, Stormy Daniels.

He made the request as the third witness for the prosecution was about to testify. According to The New York Times, Avenatti approached US District Judge Jesse Furman and said he disagreed with his lawyers on how to cross-examine the witness.

"I'm making a formal application to represent myself," Avenatti said, citing a "breakdown" between himself and his lawyers.

Furman granted Avenatti's request but emphasized the risks, warning Avenatti to "make your choice with your eyes wide open."

Avenatti has been charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, and his trial began on Monday. During opening arguments, federal prosecutors said Avenatti pocketed $300,000 out of Daniels' $800,000 book advance by forging her signature on a letter to the book's publisher.

Assistant US attorney Andrew Rohrbach said that in addition to sending the unauthorized letter, Avenatti directed Daniels' agent to send money to his own bank account and lied to Daniels about where the money was.

"He told her that the publisher was being slow," Rohrbach said. "He told her the publisher was working on it. But the whole time he had the money and he was spending it."

Avenatti's now-former lawyer, Andrew Dalack, pushed back, claiming Daniels, who plans to testify against her former lawyer at his trial, is unreliable and lacks credibility.

Dalack also said that Daniels owed Avenatti money for his services as her lawyer and did not uphold her end of their contract.

Avenatti's decision to represent himself against Daniels means he will cross-examine her when she takes the stand on Wednesday.

He was previously sentenced to 2.5 years in prison after being convicted of trying to extort Nike for more than $20 million.

"Mr. Avenatti's conduct was outrageous," the judge said at Avenatti's sentencing last year. "He hijacked his client's claims and he used those claims to further his own agenda, which was to extort millions of dollars from Nike for himself."

Prosecutors in the fraud case also accused Avenatti of taking advantage of his client, Daniels, to enrich himself.

"Adult film actresses and paranormal investigators can be victims of fraud and identity theft too, just like anybody else," Rohrbach said.

Avenatti gained national attention when he represented Daniels in her high-profile lawsuit to break the nondisclosure agreement she signed agreeing to keep quiet about an affair she claims to have had with Donald Trump in the mid-2000s.

The lawsuit resulted in the revelation that Trump's former lawyer and longtime fixer, Michael Cohen, made an illegal hush-money payment to Daniels in the weeks before the 2016 presidential election.

Cohen eventually flipped on Trump and pleaded guilty to eight felony counts including campaign finance violations, tax evasion, and bank fraud. He also pleaded guilty to one count of lying to Congress as part of the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. Cohen served several years in prison as a result and was released in late November.