Disgraced former MSNBC and CNN star Michael Avenatti was just convicted on multiple charges and now faces up to 22 years in prison.
Former attorney Avenatti was found guilty by a jury of stealing almost $300,000 from former client Stormy Daniels.
Avenatti was convicted on charges of wire fraud and identity theft.
During Avenattis’s fraud trial, a federal prosecutor told the jury that Avenatti’s “web of lies” had been exposed.
Avenatti told the jury at one point (he defended himself): “Some of you may admire Ms. Daniels. I was her advocate.
“I was her champion.
“The evidence shows that I put it all on the line for Ms. Daniels because I believed in her, and I wanted to help her.
“I too admired her, perhaps more than anyone else in her life.”
Avenatti ended his closing arguments with: “I will leave you with this: I’m Italian. I like Italian food.
“The case that the government is attempting to feed you has a giant cockroach in the middle of the plate.
“Would you eat that dish, or would you send it back?
“I submit that you would send it back.”
Avenatti concludes:
“I will leave you with this: I’m Italian. I like Italian food…The case that the government is attempting to feed you has a giant cockroach in the middle of the plate. Would you eat that dish, or would you send it back? I submit that you would send it back.”
— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) February 2, 2022
Avenatti has a 3-year sentence for one conviction and he has more fraud trials to fight out in California where he stole millions from a disabled client.
“The defendant was a lawyer who stole from his own client. She thought that he was her own advocate, but he betrayed her,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Sobelman said.
From Lawandcrime:
Dozens of text messages spread out over the course of several months show Daniels demanding her payments, after bank records show the publisher already sent the money to Avenatti’s accounts and he spent it.
“He lied to Ms. Daniels for months to cover it up,” Sobelman said.
This text exchange entered into evidence during the trial of Michael Avenatti shows him telling Stormy Daniels he will check when the publisher will send her advance. Prosecutors say Avenatti already had the payment at this time, calling it a “let-me-check lie.”
One of those lies, in Sobelman’s phrasing, was the “let-me-check lie.”
…Other times, Avenatti told Daniels that he would threaten litigation to obtain her advance payment. There was never any discussion of a lawsuit because Avenatti already had received and spent it, the prosecutor said.
Molly Crane-Newman, Manhattan state and federal courts reporter for the New York Daily News, gave a breakdown of the court action on social media:
“Avenatti asked the jury to send the plate back when they begin deliberations.
“Michael Avenatti never intended to defraud Ms. Daniels,” said Michael Avenatti.
“Of her book advance: “This was my money.”
“Asking for a mistrial, Avenatti says gov’s rebuttal amounted to misconduct because it “ridiculed” his summation. He says Furman wrongly sustained objections.
“Putting aside the fact that nobody cares that you like Italian food,” Judge Furman says, it’s not in evidence.
“Denied.”
Michael Avenatti convicted of stealing $300k from Stormy Daniels https://t.co/hoEV533oB0 pic.twitter.com/icT2kef1sd
— New York Post (@nypost) February 4, 2022
