Michael Avenatti Pleads Guilty In CA Case, Faces 300 Years In Prison For 36 Criminal Charges
Disgraced CNN star Michael Avenatti has finally come clean and admitted what a piece of garbage he really is. Avenatti plead guilty to the case most don’t know about but that could put him in prison for the rest of his life.
Avenatti, 51, is already serving five years in prison for two other cases. He was convicted of fraud and identity theft for stealing $300,000 from Stormy Daniels. He was also convicted of trying to extort $25 million from Nike Inc.
But the California case he just took a guilty plea in is the big one and it always has been the big one because Avenatti stole his client’s money. He faces more than 300 years in prison on 36 criminal charges in this California case according to Reuters.
The charges include stealing millions of dollars from clients, lying to the Internal Revenue Service and a bankruptcy court, and defrauding a bank.
Just a reminder that CNN and MSNBC made Michael Avenatti a Hero of the Resistance in 2018, with CNN featuring him 122 times and MSNBC 108. And yes, they discussed Avenatti's presidential prospects–even as he was defrauding his clients. From @newsbusters https://t.co/anec9a0OoJ
— Byron York (@ByronYork) June 13, 2022
Avenatti has been trying to make a deal before he loses in court but prosecutors aren’t biting which means he is going to spend a considerable amount of time locked up.
Judges take it personally when someone damages the legal profession and nothing is worse than stealing from your clients.
“Defendant has been unable to reach a plea agreement with the government,” Avenatti’s attorneys wrote.
“Mr. Avenatti wishes to plea in order to be accountable; accept responsibility;
“Avoid his former clients being further burdened;
“Save the court and the government significant resources;
“And save his family from further embarrassment,” the court filing said.
From CNN:
In 2019, Avenatti was indicted on multiple charges of defrauding his clients. According to the indictment, beginning in 2015, Avenatti executed a scheme to defraud five clients, one of whom was a paraplegic from whom Avenatti allegedly withheld a settlement payment of $4 million.
After Avenatti negotiated settlements for the clients that required payment to go to them, he would lie to the clients about the terms of the settlements, instead depositing the funds into attorney trust accounts he controlled, the indictment says.
He would then embezzle and misappropriate those funds, according to the indictment, and to prevent discovery of his scheme, he would tell clients the settlement proceeds hadn’t yet been paid, among other tactics.
Avenatti is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for the Daniels’ theft and for attempting to extort millions of dollars from Nike by threatening to go public with negative information unless he was paid.
JUST IN: Avenatti to plead guilty to stealing millions in California case https://t.co/R59GcMQDVX pic.twitter.com/FZAj5FylMU
— The Hill (@thehill) June 13, 2022