[1] Davidson has represented clients who sought nondisclosure agreement settlements from notable individuals, including Donald Trump, Charlie Sheen, and Hulk Hogan.
In the mid-2010s, adult film actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal retained Davidson to negotiate payments in exchange for refraining from publicly discussing their sexual encounters with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.
[1] He has represented clients in criminal and civil matters, including personal injury cases, contract disputes,[2] and entertainment law.
[10] In additional to practicing law, Davidson managed boxers James Toney and Manny Pacquiao,[2] often visible at the latter's side when he went out in public.
[6] In January 2007, the website ParisExposed.com launched, offering unrestricted access to digitized copies of Paris Hilton's diaries, nude photos, videos, and medical and financial records for a fee.
As the attorney for the shell company, Davidson told The Smoking Gun that, while he represented the content owner, that was the extent of his involvement with the site.
[2] In 2010, Tila Tequila alleged that Davidson threatened to market a sex tape of her and her former boyfriend, claiming that she would receive a share of the proceeds if she consented to its release.
[citation needed] The following year Davidson represented Kira Montgomery, another adult-film actress who claimed potential injury from Sheen.
Davidson arranged for Montgomery to enter a rehabilitation facility, and eventually negotiated a $2 million settlement with Sheen, payable in installments, provided that she keep the actor's HIV status to herself.
[2] In early 2012, TMZ reported the discovery of a sex tape featuring former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan and radio personality Todd Clem's wife.
Loyd claimed he had found the tapes inside a box set of DVDs during a garage sale fundraiser Clem had held.
McDougal had no intention of publicly sharing the details of the affair; however, a friend urged her to, "get out in front of it," so she hired Davidson to negotiate her story with interested media outlets.
They offered to pay her for the lifetime rights to the story but stated they would not publish it since the company's CEO David J. Pecker was a personal friend of Trump.
McDougal claims she made it clear that she did not fully understand the contract; however, Davidson allegedly recommended that she sign and return the agreement within hours of receipt.
Upon later review, McDougal discovered that the deal only gave AMI the option to run columns under her name and likeness, a detail she claims Davidson did not adequately communicate with her.
"[16][17] Shortly before the election, at the beginning of November, The Wall Street Journal reported on the deal between AMI and McDougal and the alleged affair.
[7] Around the same time that Davidson was finalizing the deal between McDougal and AMI, he was representing another woman who alleged a contemporaneous affair with Trump: adult-film actress Stephanie Clifford, known onscreen as Stormy Daniels.
[3] In a March 11, 2019 interview on CNN's Cuomo Prime Time, Davidson stated that he had cooperated with federal prosecutors at the Southern District of New York.
In response to this disclosure, Asha Rangappa stated that Davidson was an essential independent corroborating witness for the prosecution because he verified that Stormy Daniels was paid for political purposes, at least in part.
[20] In May 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that Shera Bechard, another former Playmate, had retained Davidson to negotiate for her a $1.6 million payment from an unnamed Republican Party official.
According to a nondisclosure agreement found among documents seized in the raid on Michael Cohen's office the previous month, the money was for an affair that had led to an abortion.
The Journal later identified the official as Elliott Broidy, the Republican party's deputy finance chairman, a financier convicted of bribery in 2009.
New York magazine columnist Paul Campos suspected that, based on the timing of the arrangement, Broidy may have accepted responsibility for Trump.
[23][24] In 2010 Davidson was suspended from the California bar after clients complained he had not paid sufficient attention to their cases, with adverse effects to their resolution.
During negotiations over Hulk Hogan's sex tape in 2012, he was detained by FBI agents conducting a sting operation, although no charges were filed.