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Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti has been sentenced to 168 months in prison for four counts of wire fraud.
This 14 year sentence is in addition to the five years he is currently serving for other charges, including stealing almost $300,000 in book-advance money from his then-client Stormy Daniels
In June, Avenatti plead guilty to four counts of wire fraud and a single count of tax fraud, and admitted to misappropriating funds from clients totaling around $10 million.
During his sentencing on Monday, Avenatti appeared solemn, often keeping his head down and hands in front if him while hearing statements from two of his victims, according to Law and Crime News' senior reporter Meghann Cuniff, who was documenting the proceedings.
"You honor, I am deeply sorry and remorseful for my criminal conduct," he told U.S. District Judge James Selna. "I caused harm and damage to four individuals who relied on me, who needed me and were not only my clients, but my friends."
He goes on, "I cared about them, helped them and fiercely advocated for them. Yet inexplicably, I later took from them. I will not stand here and attempt to offer any excuses for my conduct because there are none."
Judge Selna told the courtroom that Avenatti has done "great evil for which he must answer" and that he's shown "an abandonment of some of the most basic principles of fairness."
"It is now time to pay his debts to the victims, the government and society," the Judge said, right before sentencing him.
Avenatti became widely known across the country as the lawyer representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her failed lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, after it was revealed that she was paid $130,000 in hush money before the 2016 presidential election to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump years earlier
Dubbed the "creepy porn lawyer" by Tucker Carlson, Avenatti was the darling of the mainstream media for a time, seen as a hero "David" for going after "Goliath" Trump, before Avenatti's fall from grace.
In July of 2021, he was also convicted of extortion after trying to get Nike to pay him $25 million that he claimed he was owed on behalf of a Los Angeles youth basketball team. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and wept hysterically in response.
On top of the numerous fraud charges against him, he also admitted to blocking IRS efforts to collect unpaid payroll taxes of an estimated $5 million, include payroll taxes that had been withheld from employee paychecks of a Tully's Coffee operated by an Avenatti-owned company.
This 14 year sentence is in addition to the five years he is currently serving for other charges, including stealing almost $300,000 in book-advance money from his then-client Stormy Daniels
In June, Avenatti plead guilty to four counts of wire fraud and a single count of tax fraud, and admitted to misappropriating funds from clients totaling around $10 million.
During his sentencing on Monday, Avenatti appeared solemn, often keeping his head down and hands in front if him while hearing statements from two of his victims, according to Law and Crime News' senior reporter Meghann Cuniff, who was documenting the proceedings.
"You honor, I am deeply sorry and remorseful for my criminal conduct," he told U.S. District Judge James Selna. "I caused harm and damage to four individuals who relied on me, who needed me and were not only my clients, but my friends."
He goes on, "I cared about them, helped them and fiercely advocated for them. Yet inexplicably, I later took from them. I will not stand here and attempt to offer any excuses for my conduct because there are none."
Judge Selna told the courtroom that Avenatti has done "great evil for which he must answer" and that he's shown "an abandonment of some of the most basic principles of fairness."
"It is now time to pay his debts to the victims, the government and society," the Judge said, right before sentencing him.
Avenatti became widely known across the country as the lawyer representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her failed lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, after it was revealed that she was paid $130,000 in hush money before the 2016 presidential election to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump years earlier
Dubbed the "creepy porn lawyer" by Tucker Carlson, Avenatti was the darling of the mainstream media for a time, seen as a hero "David" for going after "Goliath" Trump, before Avenatti's fall from grace.
In July of 2021, he was also convicted of extortion after trying to get Nike to pay him $25 million that he claimed he was owed on behalf of a Los Angeles youth basketball team. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and wept hysterically in response.
On top of the numerous fraud charges against him, he also admitted to blocking IRS efforts to collect unpaid payroll taxes of an estimated $5 million, include payroll taxes that had been withheld from employee paychecks of a Tully's Coffee operated by an Avenatti-owned company.
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