U.S. lawyer Michael Avenatti gets 4 years in prison for defrauding Stormy Daniels & More Trending News

NEW YORK, June 2 (Reuters) – Michael Avenatti, the brash California lawyer who took on then-President Donald Trump, was sentenced on Thursday to 4 years in prison for defrauding his best-known former consumer, the porn actress Stormy Daniels.

A federal jury convicted Avenatti in February of wire fraud and aggravated identification theft after a two-week trial, agreeing with prosecutors that he embezzled practically $300,000 in ebook proceeds supposed for Daniels. learn extra

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman imposed the sentence in federal court docket in Manhattan, calling Avenatti’s conduct “brazen and egregious.”

But he mentioned pointers calling for Avenatti, 51, to serve a sentence of 5 or 6 years have been “unreasonable,” in half as a consequence of Avenatti’s prior profitable authorized profession.

Avenatti, who appeared in court docket carrying prison garb and ankle shackles, recounted a string of authorized victories he had secured for shoppers he referred to as “underdogs,” and disputed prosecutors’ assertion that he took on Daniels as a consumer to realize a nationwide platform for himself.

“No one else had the guts to take her case,” Avenatti mentioned earlier than Furman handed down his sentence, talking from the courtroom lectern with a U.S. marshal standing beside him. “I believed we could take down a sitting U.S. president who was the biggest threat to our democracy in modern times.”

Daniels, whose given title is Stephanie Clifford, is thought for receiving $130,000 from Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, in change for remaining quiet earlier than the 2016 presidential election about sexual encounters she says she had with Trump, which he has denied.

Avenatti vowed to attraction the responsible verdict in the Daniels case, however has not but executed so.

He had already been serving a 2-1/2-year sentence stemming from his 2020 federal conviction for attempting to extort thousands and thousands of {dollars} from Nike Inc (NKE.N). He has appealed that conviction.

Eighteen months of the Daniels sentence will run concurrent with the Nike sentence, which means Avenatti faces a mixed 5 years in prison. He continues to be charged in California with stealing thousands and thousands of {dollars} from different shoppers.

Prosecutors had really helpful that Avenatti obtain a “substantial” prison time period in the Daniels case, together with a compulsory two-year time period for identification theft. nL2N2XJ18V]

Avenatti, who represented himself throughout the trial, proposed a three-year sentence, with one yr working concurrent along with his Nike sentence.

Following the sentencing, Avenatti blew a kiss towards mates of his in the viewers earlier than being led out of the courtroom by U.S. marshals. He will return to jail in California to organize for trial there.

Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; modifying by Jonathan Oatis and Noeleen Walder

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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