Liberal media darling Michael Avenatti was sentenced to four years in prison Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge Jesse Furman for embezzling nearly $300,000 from his Anti-Trump former client Stephanie Clifford–better known by her stripper name Stormy Daniels. Avenatti told the judge in court in the Southern District of New York as he pleaded for a lenient sentence that he took Daniels’ case against Trump because, “I believed we could take down a sitting American president who was the biggest threat to our democracy in modern times.”
Avenatti was convicted in February of charges stemming from him forging Daniels’ signature on a letter to divert nearly $300,000 in her book royalties to himself.
In 2018 the Trump-hating media promoted Avenatti as a potential presidential candidate, file screen image.
Inner City Press reporter Matthew Russell Lee tweeted a play-by-play of the Avenatti sentencing which can be read at this link.
OK – now Avenatti sentencing in Stormy Daniels case. He is in Courtroom 318 in prison beige. Inner City Press covered trial and hot dog (scam) story https://t.co/UcYT9swgl1 and will live tweet this sentencing, thread below https://t.co/noBohIbGI9
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) June 2, 2022
Excerpts from Avenatti’s plea for leniency:
“Avenatti: I deserve just punishment. I stand by the sincerity of my letter to Ms. Daniels. I will never practice law again. I will forever be branded a “disgraced lawyer” and worse. I may never recover any semblance of a normal life or peace. (Sniffles)…Avenatti: I received many awards. This does not excuse my conduct in this case. I represented Ms Daniels because she was an underdog. I believed we could take down a sitting American president who was the single biggest threat to American democracy in modern times.”
Avenatti: I deserve just punishment. I stand by the sincerity of my letter to Ms. Daniels. I will never practice law again. I will forever be branded a “disgraced lawyer” and worse. I may never recover any semblance of a normal life or peace. (Sniffles)
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) June 2, 2022
Avenatti: I received many awards. This does not excuse my conduct in this case. I represented Ms Daniels because she was an underdog. I believed we could take down a sitting American president who was the single biggest threat to American democracy in modern times
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) June 2, 2022
Excerpts from sentencing:
“Judge Furman: A four year sentence, some but not all consecutive with the Nike case sentence, will be appropriate. Giving Mr. Avenatti an additional thirty months is what I am imposing. You are remanded for 48 months – 18 concurrent to the Nike case…Judge Furman: Also three years of supervised release and a search condition for his electronic communications. You will pay restitution of $148,000 through the Clerk of this Court, for payment to Ms. Daniels. No interest on it, you cannot afford it.”
Judge Furman: Also three years of supervised release and a search condition for his electronic communications. You will pay restitution of $148,000 through the Clerk of this Court, for payment to Ms. Daniels. No interest on it, you cannot afford it.
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) June 2, 2022
Avenatti has gone from anti-Trump celebrity with presidential ambitions to convicted crooked lawyer.
Avenatti at a 2018 party with CNN personalities including Don Lemon, file image from deleted tweet by Juanita Scarlett/Twitter.
CNN’s report on his sentencing notes Avenatti is still in legal hot water (excerpt):
Avenatti was convicted in February of one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. He faced as much as 20 years on the wire fraud charge and a mandatory two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft.
Avenatti is currently serving a 30-month prison sentence for attempting to extort over $20 million from Nike by threatening to go public with damaging information unless they paid him. He goes on trial next month in California on charges alleging that he embezzled $10 million in settlement funds from at least five clients. He has also been charged with tax fraud and bankruptcy fraud and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The usually sharp-dressed Avenatti’s request to a suit for his sentencing was rejected Wednesday by the judge:
Just in from Judge Furman: “Application DENIED.”
So, Avenatti will be in jail scrubs for sentencing tomorrow, instead of a suit as he requested. pic.twitter.com/pVRrZtyA3L
— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) June 1, 2022
As for Daniels, she owes Trump nearly $300,000 (CNBC excerpt from March):
Porn star Stormy Daniels is on the hook to pay former President Donald Trump nearly $300,000 in attorneys’ fees after a federal appeals court rejected her bid to overturn a lower court decision in her failed defamation lawsuit against him.
Friday’s ruling, which Trump bragged about in a statement issued Monday night, likely puts to bed a yearslong legal feud between Daniels and the ex-president related to her claim that they had sex one time in 2006.
That feud has featured both of their former lawyers being convicted of felonies that were connected to the effects of her claim. Trump denies having had sex with the adult film actress.
“I will go to jail before I pay a penny,” Daniels tweeted Monday.
Daniels on Tuesday, in a lengthy statement posted on Twitter, said Trump had won the case “on a technicality” because her then-lawyer, Michael Avenatti, failed to promptly file a notice of appeal in her defamation suit.
