We were so desperate during the Trump years. Desperate enough to believe a p0rn star’s con-man lawyer was the answer. He was not. Michael Avenatti gained fame in the early Trump years because he was Stormy Daniels’ lawyer. He was so anti-Trump that we wanted to believe in him and we thought supporting him meant we were supporting Stormy. Stormy ended up firing him when she saw what he really was, and went down in flames over the course of 2018 and 2019. He was arrested multiple times for multiple crimes. Somehow, the most serious crime ended up being Avenatti’s attempt to extort Nike for $20 million. Nike put the hammer down and now Avenatti is going to prison.
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced attorney Michael Avenatti to 2 1/2 years behind bars for an extortion plot against Nike that the lawyer himself said should make his children “ashamed” of their dad. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe in New York marked another crushing blow for the 50-year-old Avenatti who was once one of the most familiar faces on cable TV news, as representative of former porn star Stormy Daniels.
Speaking through sobs, Avenatti said he was truly sorry for all the pain he has caused and that he betrayed his values, his profession and his family.
“I will never have the privilege of practicing law again, I am deeply humbled before you today. I have destroyed my career, my relationships and my life,” he told the court. “Every father wants their children to be proud of them. I want mine to be ashamed. Because if they are ashamed, it means their moral compass is exactly where it should be.”
While Judge Gardephe said Avenatti had no previous criminal record, the lawyer’s conduct in this case was “outrageous.” 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,” Gardephe said.
“Michael Avenatti used illegal and extortionate threats and betrayed one of his clients for the purpose of seeking to obtain millions of dollars for himself,” U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said. “Not only did Avenatti attempt to weaponize his law license and celebrity to seek to extort payments for himself, he also defrauded his own client. Avenatti will now serve substantial time in prison for his criminal conduct.”
I do have to wonder if there aren’t more than a few con-man lawyers quaking in their boots this week. It’s become more and more of a thing, charging the lawyers and sending the lawyers to prison. Michael Cohen, Michael Avenatti, and maybe Rudy Giuliani next? Anyway, send all of these a–holes to jail. They’re all of the same kind of mold, like they all think they’re mobbed-up loudmouths who can shout down reasonable people. Enjoy prison, a–holes.
Avenatti’s legal issues are far from over.
He still faces a host of tax and bank charges in California. His trial is set to begin next week in federal court. And next year Avenatti returns to New York for a federal trial on charges that he embezzled money from Stormy Daniels.
— Adrienne Lawrence (@AdrienneLaw) July 8, 2021
Photos courtesy of Getty.