Adult-film star Stormy Daniels has reached a $450,000 settlement with the city of Columbus, Ohio, to resolve a lawsuit she filed over her arrest while performing at a strip club in July 2018.
“During today’s mediation, all parties agreed that a settlement of $450,000 was fair given the facts and circumstances involved,” Meredith Tucker, a spokeswoman for the city attorney’s office, said on Friday.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was charged with three misdemeanor counts of illegally touching a patron at the city’s Sirens Gentlemen’s Club. The charges were dropped after 12 hours, and Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs soon called the arrest by four vice officers “a mistake.”
“While the presence of Vice officers at this establishment is reasonable, the motivations behind the officers’ actions will be reviewed internally to ensure that our Core Values and duty to serve our community to the best of our ability continue to be the basis for our actions,” Jacobs added.
Daniels’ lawyer at the time, Michael Avenatti, called the arrest “a setup” and “politically motivated.” In a lawsuit filed against the city in January, Daniels said she was targeted by the vice officers because they were supporters of President Donald Trump and “entered into a conspiracy to arrest her” in retaliation for her public accusations that she had an extramarital affair with him before he became president.
The Columbus police department’s vice unit was later the subject of a federal corruption investigation and was shut down in March shortly after one of its detectives was indicted on charges unconnected to the Daniels case, according to the New York Times.
The settlement is subject to approval by the Columbus City Council.