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Former star lawyer Michael Avenatti, who rose to fame representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her legal battles with then-president Donald Trump, on Thursday got 4 years in prison for stealing from her. Avenatti was convicted in early February of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Daniels. He reportedly choked up in court during his sentencing. During a two-week trial, prosecutors said the California lawyer spun a web of lies to cheat Daniels of nearly $300,000 she was owed for her autobiography, spending it on his firm’s payroll and personal expenses. Avenatti argued in closing arguments that he was...

Disgraced California lawyer Michael Avenatti wants leniency at his sentencing for defrauding former client Stormy Daniels out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, his lawyers say, citing a groveling letter in which he told Daniels: 'I am truly sorry.' The emailed letter, dated May 13, was included in a submission his lawyers made late Thursday in Manhattan federal court in advance of a June 2 sentencing. Avenatti, 51, should face no more than three years in prison for his latest conviction, or 4 1/2 years in all, because two convictions have destroyed his life, the lawyers said.

New York Times story seen as effort to put spin on bad news Long before the New York Post's blockbuster, election-eve stories on Hunter Biden's laptop in 2020, investigative reporter and author Peter Schweizer documented the Biden family's international business of selling access to the White House for millions of dollars. Schweizer's 2018 book "Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends" and a follow-up, "Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite," presented evidence that five members of the Biden family cashed in while Joe Biden was vice president.

It’s a win for Trump. The defamation lawsuit filed against Donald Trump by Michael Avenatti on behalf of Stormy Daniels has been tossed—and a judge is ordering her to pay nearly the president’s $294,000 legal tab. Daniels recently toldthe Daily Beast that the defamation suit filed by Avenatti was done against her wishes. The suit claimed that Trump has defamed the adult entertainment actress on his Twitter account. Well, regardless of the circumstances, it’s time to pay up, Stormy (via CNBC): OH MAN A federal judge just ordered Stormy Daniels to pay a whopping $293K to Trump for “attorneys’ fees,...

Stormy Daniels has been ordered to pay almost $300,000 to President Trump for filing a dismissed defamation suit against him. U.S. District Judge S. James Otero ordered the porn star, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, to pay $293,000 to cover the president’s attorneys’ fees plus $1,000 in sanctions for filing the case at all. “The court’s order, along with the court’s prior order dismissing Stormy Daniels’ defamation case against the President, together constitute a total victory for the President, and a total defeat for Stormy Daniels in this case,” Trump attorney Charles Harder said Tuesday, according to CNBC.

The U.S. District Court today ordered Stormy Daniels (real name Stephanie Clifford) to pay President Trump $293,052.33 to reimburse his attorneys’ fees (75% of his total legal bill), plus an additional $1,000 in sanctions to punish Daniels for having filed a meritless lawsuit

An attorney for President Trump requested the court obtain $800,000 in legal fees and penalties from porn star actress Stormy Daniels for her unsuccessful defamation lawsuit against the president. Attorney Charles Harder said his firm spent more than 500 hours and $390,000 in legal fees defending the president and asked the court to press for just as much money in sanctions to deter “frivolous defamation cases.” “This action is virtually unprecedented in American legal history,” Harder wrote in court papers. Daniels “not only brought a meritless claim for defamation against the sitting president of the United States, but she also...

Porn star Stormy Daniels asked a federal judge to drastically reduce President Donald Trump's demand for nearly $350,000 in attorney's fees in her recently dismissed defamation suit. Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, argued that the $341,559.50 requested for an alleged 509.25 hours of attorney time is a "staggering and grossly inflated sum." The proper figure is closer to $25,000, Avenatti said in the court filing Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

The Federal Election Commission has dropped its inquiry into Donald Trump’s alleged payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The Commission is comprised of six members: three Republicans, two Democrats, and one independent. The case was decided with a 2-2 vote. Both Democrats voted that the case against Trump should proceed; two of the Republicans voted to drop the inquiry; the other Republican recused himself from the case, and the Independent did not vote. Thus, the case was dropped because there was no majority.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday paved the way for a New York City prosecutor to obtain former President Donald Trump's tax returns and other financial records as part of a criminal investigation, a blow to his quest to conceal details of his finances. The justices rebuffed Trump's request to put on hold an October 7 lower court ruling directing the former Republican president's longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, to comply with a subpoena to turn over the materials to a grand jury convened by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, a Democrat. The ruling does not make Trump's tax records...

Donald Trump is not expected to face charges in the hush money payment scandal involving porn star Stormy Daniels and former playmate Karen McDougal, despite no longer having the shield of presidency, according to people familiar with the case. The former president's exit from the White House last month prompted speculation that US prosecutors might revive the investigation that sent his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to prison. Trump himself had been publicly implicated by prosecutors as complicit in Cohen's campaign finance crimes during his 2016 run for office.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on Thursday subpoenaed the Trump Organization over hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels in the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections. Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office picked up the probe just weeks after federal prosecutors announced they’d completed their investigation into the payments, made by former-Trump fixer Michael Cohen. “This is a political hit job,” Marc Mukasey, a lawyer for the organization, told The Post in an email.

Michael Avenatti's legal troubles escalated on Wednesday as federal prosecutors announced new criminal charges accusing the lawyer and prominent critic of U.S. President Donald Trump of stealing from porn star Stormy Daniels and extorting Nike Inc. Prosecutors accused Avenatti, 48, of stealing about $300,000 from Daniels, about half of which has not been repaid, after helping his former client secure a book contract. They also said he has been indicted on previously announced charges that he tried to blackmail Nike out of more than $20 million by threatening to expose what he called the athletic wear company's improper payments to...

In a statement posted Wednesday to Twitter, attorney Michael Avenatti denied he misappropriated funds meant for his client, adult film star Stormy Daniels, in her suit against President Donald Trump. “No monies relating to Ms. Daniels were ever misappropriated or mishandled,” Avenatti said. “She received millions of dollars’ worth of legal services and we spent huge sums in expenses. She directly paid only $100.00 for all that she received. I look forward to a jury hearing the evidence.” The denial came after ABC News reported prosecutors in the Southern District of New York plan to file new charges against Avenatti...

Michael Avenatti, the former lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels who is facing a 36-count federal indictment, threw his support behind former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary. Mr. Avenatti on Thursday tweeted his “enthusiastic support” for Mr. Biden several hours after the former vice president formally announced his third bid for the presidency.

Stormy Daniels says she regularly fears that President Trum could win reelection. “I will be voting,” the adult-film star told an audience of almost entirely women on Tuesday at The Wing in Washington. “Some days I’m like, ‘There’s no way — this is gonna be amazing,'” Daniels told moderator Jane Mulkerrins, a freelance journalist, when asked during the Q&A session about the prospects of what might happen in the 2020 presidential election. “Other days I’m like, ‘This motherf---er’s going to win again,’” she said of Trump. Daniels, who was born Stephanie Clifford, sued Trump and his former lawyer Michael Cohen...

Attorney Michael Avenatti announced Tuesday that he was no longer representing adult film star Stormy Daniels, cutting ties with a client who had propelled him into the national limelight. In a statement posted to Twitter, Avenatti said he had informed Daniels "in writing" last month that his firm was terminating its representation of her "for various reasons that we cannot disclose publicly due to the attorney-client privilege." "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," Avenatti added. "We wish Stormy all the best."...

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...

A lawsuit by adult film star Stormy Daniels against President Donald Trump over a non-disparagement agreement has been tossed out of federal court. US District Judge James Otero says the suit, which sought to invalidate the $130,000 agreement that kept Daniels from speaking publicly about her allegations of an affair with Trump ahead of the 2016 election, should be sent back to California Superior Court. In his ruling, Otero says the suit "lacks subject matter jurisdiction." By remanding the case back to where it was first filed, Otero made it clear the case is over.