Federal Prosecutors Speak Just Under 18 Years for Michael Avenatti lamag.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lamag.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
March 17, 2021 5:45 PMLegal
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LOS ANGELES Michael Avenatti, the former lawyer for AVN Hall of Famer Stormy Daniels in her multiple lawsuits against Donald Trump, was convicted last year of attempted extortion against the Nike Corporation, and of other financial crimes against Daniels and other clients. As of Tuesday, he is now an accused plagiarist as well.
In another development in Avenatti’s case this week, prosecutors accused Avenatti of deliberately delaying his receipt of the COVID-19 vaccine, in order to keep himself from returning to jail in New York City. Avenatti has been under home confinement at the residence of a friend, Jay Manheimer, in Venice, California, since April of last year. At that time, he was released from a federal jail in Manhattan due to COVID risks.
After a spectacular 15-minutes-of-fame crash and burn that included serious talk of a U.S. presidential bid, Los Angeles lawyer and three-time convicted felon Michael Avenatti enjoyed a quiet 2020 confined to a friend’s Venice home on a court-ordered COVID release from jail.
But while he’s secured about a dozen continuances in his three cross-county criminal cases, Avenatti couldn’t avoid a sanction issued December 23 in an Orange County civil case: a judge fined him $960 for failing to participate in an evidentiary proceeding in a longstanding lawsuit over $5.4 million Avenatti’s former co-counsel claims he stole. Avenatti’s former business partners, attorneys, and wives also are involved in ongoing court action for their dealings with him, and each could end up facing financial consequences much heftier than the $960 sanction lodged against Avenatti.