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Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti on Thursday pleaded guilty to several federal charges in California and admitted to stealing millions of dollars from clients. Avenatti, acting as his own primary counsel, admitted his guilt to four counts of wire fraud and one count of endeavoring to obstruct administration of the Internal Revenue Code.

CNN's Anderson Cooper introduced Michael Avenatti to the literary agent who is now a key witness in Avenatti's fraud trial, in which the onetime Democratic frontrunner stands accused of stealing money from porn star Stormy Daniels. Luke Janklow, the agent who arranged a lucrative book deal for Daniels in 2018, testified on Monday that Cooper introduced him to Avenatti, who was serving as the porn star's lawyer at the time. "He said he was a dynamic, energetic guy," Janklow said of Cooper, his friend since childhood. Janklow, heir to the Warner Bros. fortune, and Cooper, a Vanderbilt scion, were just...

Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti walked out of a New York City federal jail Friday morning after a judge ordered his temporary release due to coronavirus fears. The onetime agitator of President Trump left the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan at around 11 a.m., his attorney Dean Steward said. Avenatti is required to return to the facility in 90 days. Avenatti has been in quarantine for the past 14 days at the facility to make sure he doesn't have signs of the novel coronavirus that has infected 2.7 million people worldwide. He is part of a growing group of non-violent high-profile...

Federal detention centers are definitely a lot less pleasant than cable news' greenrooms. Former liberal media darling and frequent CNN guest Michael Avenatti was recently held in a "rat-infested" jail cell for a 10-day stretch and “and was able to shower only twice in about two weeks,” according to The Washington Post. Citing a letter Avenatti’s attorney sent to a judge, the Post reported that the former lawyer to porn star Stormy Daniels had a rough time during a lockdown at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan, where he's being held since last month after being found guilty of...

Some members of the mainstream media have issued mea culpas for building up now-disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti, while others have shirked responsibility and some have even blamed President Trump – but it all falls flat for critics who watched his rise from lawyer for a porn star to potential Democratic presidential candidate. Avenatti, who represented adult film actress Stormy Daniels in a lawsuit against President Trump, appeared on CNN and MSNBC a combined 229 times over two years, according to the Media Research Center. CNN’s Brian Stelter was Avenatti’s biggest cheerleader, once declaring that he was a “serious” contender to...

There's nothing better than watching the media glom onto the latest anti-Trump fantasy only to watch it go up in flames as did their love affair with now-convicted "Creepy Porn lawyer" Michael Avenatti. Back before Avenatti was known to be a raging criminal who tried to blackmail Nike into giving him millions of dollars, the media thought that he was the "savior of the Republic." Yes, they said that. ~snip~ Video

Favorite Democrat Presidential Candidate found GUILTY & Going to Prison!

Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who represented a porn star in a lawsuit against President Trump, was found guilty of trying to extort Nike. A New York jury on Friday found Avenatti guilty on three counts, including extortion, wire fraud and transmission of interstate communications with intent to extort. He faces up to 42 years in prison.

Full title of article: "Michael Avenatti’s Lonely Fall The disgraced lawyer wanted to be a legal celebrity. Now he’s not even the most famous defendant on the block." Excerpt: Over the last year or so, the swift and not particularly surprising fall of lawyer Michael Avenatti has descended through the circles of bankruptcy, alleged domestic violence, banishment from cable television, and separate indictments for tax fraud, extortion, and cheating Stormy Daniels, his most important client. In mid-January, federal agents arrested Avenatti in the middle of a disciplinary hearing before the State Bar of California and charged him with violating his...

LOS ANGELES – Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti is accused of stealing money from dozens more clients than previously known, according to newly unsealed documents and recent interviews with Fox News. It’s alleged that Avenatti, currently behind bars awaiting trial in New York on unrelated charges, directed up to $1.3 million in settlement funds – intended for approximately 170 clients – to cover his own expenses. It’s the latest example of alleged malfeasance by the lawyer who was once a fixture on cable news and flirted with a presidential run. “We didn’t receive any of that,” Donald Albaugh, one of Avenatti’s...

LOS ANGELES—Ex-Stormy Daniels lawyer and Trump antagonist Michael Avenatti was led out of the State Bar Court in Los Angeles by federal agents on Tuesday evening. The arrest occurred outside the disciplinary hearing in which the State Bar of California has accused the hard-charging, tough-talking attorney of using a doctored document to scam a client out of nearly $840,000, funneling money from a lawsuit settlement fund to his own personal use.

Michael Avenatti does not want U.S. prosecutors to present evidence at his criminal trial this month that his alleged financial straits, including an inability to pay child support, gave the celebrity lawyer a motive to extort Nike Inc. In a filing on Friday, lawyers for Avenatti said it would be "so prejudicial to Mr. Avenatti as to deprive him of a fair trial" for prosecutors to suggest he was more than $15 million in debt, a claim Avenatti "vehemently disputes," when he allegedly tried to extort up to $25 million from Nike. Avenatti became famous representing porn star Stormy Daniels...

After Plagiarism Scandal, Biden Rips Off Avenatti’s Campaign Slogan. Avenatti Responds. Fresh off his latest plagiarism scandal, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden ripped off indicted lawyer Michael Avenatti's proposed campaign slogan on Tuesday, which spurred reaction online, including from Avenatti. During a campaign stop in Iowa, Biden said: "I think it's time, you know, [Trump] says, 'let's Make America Great Again,' let's make America America again." People immediately noticed that Biden's remarks were an exact match for the campaign slogan that Avenatti had proposed using for his campaign before he encountered legal problems and decided not to run for office....

Embattled attorney Michael Avenatti will have a busy day in Manhattan federal court Tuesday -- but as a defendant, not as counsel. Avenatti, 49, is scheduled to be arraigned on charges that he tried to extort up to $25 million from athletic apparel giant Nike by threatening to expose claims that the shoemaker paid off high school basketball players to steer them to Nike-sponsored colleges. He also is scheduled to be arraigned on charges that he stole nearly $300,000 from adult film actress Stormy Daniels, the client who rocketed him to national prominence. In the Nike case, Avenatti is charged...

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge Tuesday rejected attorney Michael Avenatti’s request for a public defender to represent him in a case alleging he stole millions of dollars from clients, cheated on his taxes and committed bank fraud. Judge James Selna denied the request without providing a reason on the eve of Avenatti’s appearance in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California, on the issue of who will represent him.

A day after a federal judge rejected Michael Avenatti's request to be represented by a public defender, the embattled attorney announced Wednesday that he had hired his own private counsel for his trial on charges that he defrauded clients, a bank and the federal government. Avenatti appeared for a short hearing in Santa Ana, Calif., federal court alongside Dean Steward, whom Avenatti called an “incredibly well qualified” lawyer. On Tuesday, Avenatti filed paperwork asking to formally establish an attorney-client relationship with the federal public defender's office. That request was denied without explanation by U.S. District Judge James V. Selna. The...

AVENATTI then laid out again his threat of harm to Nike, adding that “as soon as this becomes public, I am going to receive calls from all over the country from parents and coaches and friends and all kinds of people – this is always what happens – and they are all going to say I’ve got an email or a text message or – now, 90% of that is going to be bullshit because it’s always bullshit 90% of the time, always, whether it’s R. Kelly or Trump, the list goes on and on – but 10% of it...

The alleged co-conspirator in an extortion case against celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti is believed to be CNN legal analyst Mark Geragos. Geragos, 61, was not named in the criminal complaint against Avenatti. Two people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal that the co-conspirator, referred to in the document as "CC-1", a California attorney "known for representation of celebrity and public figure clients," was Geragos. It is not known whether Geragos has been charged or is cooperating with investigators. One of the best-known criminal defense lawyers in America, Geragos' clients have included footballer Colin Kaepernick, the late singer...

Television lawyer Michael Avenatti announced Tuesday that he will no longer represent pornographic actress Stormy Daniels. “On February 19, we informed Stormy Daniels in writing that we were terminating our legal representation of her for various reasons that we can disclose publicly due to attorney-client privilege,” Avenatti said in a statement shared to Twitter. “This was not a decision we made lightly and it came only after lengthy discussion, thought and deliberation, as well as consultation with other professionals,” he added. “We wish Stormy all the best.” In a separate statement, Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said she...

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The 2018 arrest of Stormy Daniels at a Columbus strip club was improper but not planned ahead of time or politically motivated, according to an internal police department review released Friday...(snip) ...Officers who went to Sirens strip club that night were targeting the club and not Daniels as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged illegal activity, according to the head of the city vice squad. Those alleged activities including human trafficking, underage drinking and drug dealing, the report said. But the investigation that night shifted to a narrower investigation of alleged illegal touching of customers by...