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Michael Avenati was sentenced in court on Monday December 5 to 14 years in prison on four counts of wire fraud CNN. He was accused of embezzling millions of dollars from four clients. He will reportedly begin the trial after serving five years in prison for two other trials, including one where he was accused of stealing thousands of dollars from his former client Stormy Daniels.
Avenatti was Daniels’ attorney during her legal battles against the former president donald trump, but he was arrested for trying to extort Nike for $20 million. He appeared alongside Daniels in a series of court cases against Trump and his former attorney Michael Kohen. He was later found guilty of stealing $300,000 from Daniels and attempting to blackmail Nike. He was sentenced to 4 years for the Daniels trial and two and a half years for Nike, which he is currently serving concurrently. Here’s everything else you need to know about Avenatti.
1. Michael graduated top of his class in law school.
He attended George Washington University, where he worked closely with professors on constitutional issues related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Michael then graduated first in his class and received the Order of the Toque.
2. According to Nike’s criminal complaint against Michael, he threatened to release harmful information about the company if they didn’t raise millions of dollars.
“I’m going to subtract $10 billion from your client’s market cap… I’m not failing,” Avenatti said, according to the complaint. “And I don’t play games anymore. You guys know enough now to know that you guys have a serious problem and it’s worth more to me to expose myself just to expose this matter,” he added.
3. Michael brought Bank on board when it comes to successfully arguing cases
He successfully represented a plaintiff in a theft of ideas lawsuit The Apprentice and the show’s executive producers Markus Burnett and trump. Markus Bethea had claimed he dreamed up a reality-based television show called chairman with Trump as moderator and introduced it to Burnett’s executive director in 2001. The legendary reality producer reportedly passed on the idea when it debuted in 2003 The Apprentice on NBC, with Trump as host and EP. The case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
5. Michael is a racing driver.
He is just as diligent in his hobbies as in his law firm. Since 2010, Michael has competed in over 30 professional sports car races including the LeMans 24 Hours, the Daytona 24 Hours and the Porsche SuperCup.