These days, Donald Trump seems to be seen in court nearly as much as on the campaign trail, and over the years, several players in his orbit have landed in jail. Among them is Michael Avenatti, the former attorney of adult film star Stormy Daniels, who sued Trump for defamation in 2018.
In the Daniels case, then-President Trump was accused of defamation for lying about the affair he had with the actress before he was president. With Avenatti on her legal team, Daniels sued Trump when he called his sexual encounter with Daniels a “con job.” A California judge declared Trump’s statements free speech and Daniels’ defamation case has stalled on appeal. Trump still faces charges on whether he falsified business records to cover up Daniels’ payments.
Avenatti, meanwhile — who, as of this report, was behind bars at the Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island in California — has had his fair share of legal troubles. Here’s an update on what the disgraced attorney did as well as his expected release date.
What did Michael Avenatti do?
According to the U.S. Justice Department, Avenatti was convicted in 2020 of tax evasion and fraud and extorting and attempting to extort millions from clients, including Stormy Daniels and Nike. In 2020, Avenatti received a 30-month prison sentence for the Nike fraud. While in detention, he was released for 90 days for health reasons amid the COVID-19 pandemic and ordered to remain on house arrest before reporting back to prison. That same year, Avenatti received an additional 30-month sentence related to Daniels’ extortion.
Meanwhile, two years later, he was sentenced to an additional 14 years for defrauding millions of dollars from other clients. His total prison sentence is 19 years with no chance for parole, with some of that cumulative sentence served consecutively. Avenatti pleaded not guilty to all charges, but those sentences and fines have held up on appeal. As it stands, Avenatti is expected to be released from prison on Aug. 20, 2035.
Michael Avenatti prison interview
In April 2024, Avenatti was back in the news when he gave his first-ever prison interview with MSNBC’s Ari Melber. Surprising many, Avenatti shot holes in the ongoing Trump/Stormy Daniels hush money payments case, calling it “stale” and adding that it rests on a “legally tenuous” theory. He did, however, say that he expected Trump would still be convicted.
“You’re talking about conduct that occurred some eight years ago. I think the fact that it’s occurring in state court in New York is a mistake. And I think that when you are going to potentially deprive tens of millions of Americans of their choice for the presidency of the United States, whether we agree with those folks or not, or regardless of what we may think of Donald Trump, I think it’s a mistake to do it based on a case of this nature.”
via The Daily Beast
