the controversial American lawyer Michael Avenatti was sentenced this Monday by a court in the city of Santa Ana (California) to 14 years in prison for tax fraud, negligence and embezzling millions of dollars from four of his clients.
Avenatti, who became famous for defending porn actress Stormy Daniels in her lawsuits against the former President Donald Trumpadmitted in June that he defrauded his clients out of millions of dollars by negotiating deals on behalf of his clients and then siphoning the money into his own bank accounts.
As a result of this pervasive pattern of cyber fraud, the four clients suffered losses of approximately $7.6 million, according to the court ruling. Federal Judge James Selna.
The lawyer, who defended himself in this trial, was also found guilty of having obstructed the work of the United States Revenue Agency (IRS) to avoid paying another 3 million in concept tax as the owner of the Trully’s Coffee chain , which closed in 2018.
In addition to the 14-year prison sentence, Selna ordered Avenatti to “answer for the grave wrong he committed” and pay more than $10.8 million in settlements to his four clients and the IRS.
“Michael Avenatti was a corrupt lawyer who claimed to be fighting for the individual, but was only concerned with his own selfish interests,” federal prosecutor Martin Estrada said during the trial, adding that the former lawyer’s “only concern” was “finance his extravagant lifestyle”. .
The sentence against Avenatti, banned from practicing the legal profession in Californiawill begin after serving 5 years in prison in upstate New York for attempting to extort $20 million from Nike and for attempting to steal $300,000 from a Stormy Daniels book advance.
