A New York federal judge on Thursday sentenced a tearful Michael Avenatti to two and a half years in prison for attempting to extort large sums of money from the sports brand Nike. The disgraced Newport Beach attorney and former Trump antagonist received a reporting date in September when he returned to California next week for another criminal trial in Orange County.
“I and I alone have ruined my career, my relationships, my life and there is no doubt that I deserved to pay, paid another price for what I did and will pay another price”, Avenatti told U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in a two-hour, personal condemnation streamed over a public phone line. “TV and Twitter, Your Honor, mean nothing. Everyone wants to ride with you in a limousine, but very few are willing to sit next to you on the bus. Even fewer, Your Honor, are ready to take your calls from prison. “
Avenatti faced 108-135 months in prison under the sentencing guidelines, but Gardephe handed down a lesser sentence, citing Avenatti’s stay in “appalling” conditions, including solitary confinement, and the fact that prominent attorney Mark Geragos was also involved in the Nike program but never charged. Gardephe called Geragos a “central figure in criminal behavior”.
But Avenatti’s lawyers had called for six months in prison, and Gardephe made it clear that Avenatti’s “outrageous” behavior deserved a longer sentence.
“He hijacked his client’s allegations and used those allegations to advance his own goals,” said Gardephe.
“Everyone wants to ride with you in a limousine, but very few are willing to sit next to you on the bus. Even fewer, Your Honor, are ready to take your calls from prison. ”—Michael Avenatti
Avenatti was arrested by New York prosecutors on March 25, 2019 for his involvement in a $ 25 million shakedown attempt against Nike. The case was brought into widespread financial crime amid a major investigation in California, including stealing money from customers and defrauding a bankruptcy court. Authorities here had to issue search warrants and an early indictment document when New York authorities informed them of the impending arrest of Avenatti. They later revealed a 36-person grand jury indictment.
In the Nike case, Avenatti threatened a press conference announcing that if he weren’t paid millions of dollars, the company would get illegally paid players, including for an internal investigation he was conducting. Nike’s lawyers recorded their meeting with Avenatti, and Gardephe on Thursday recited some of Avenatti’s most scathing comments from that meeting, including, “Have you ever held your client’s balls … this is going to be a hell of a scandal.”
Gardephe admitted that the upcoming Orange County trial was at stake and called it “very serious”. Indeed, if convicted, Avenatti could face another decade in prison. He also has a pending lawsuit in a New York case alleging he stole bookstore money from the former client who made him famous, porn star Stormy Daniels.
In his comments to the judge on Monday, Avenatti shared his childhood dream of becoming a lawyer and cried as he shared his downfall.
“Other kids dreamed of becoming athletes … but I dreamed of becoming a lawyer, becoming a trial attorney, doing good and seeking justice and achieving to fight for the little guy against the Goliaths,” said Avenatti. “I’ve been doing that for years. But then I got lost. I have betrayed my own values, my friends, my family and myself. I gave away my job. I was driven by the things that don’t matter in life. “
Avenatti told the judge he was grateful for his family’s support but hoped his children would be ashamed of him, “because when they are ashamed, it means their moral compass is exactly where it should be.”
Avenatti is due to report to prison on September 15. At the request of his attorney, the court will recommend that he be placed in the Sheridan, Oregon state facility, which is the closest medium security prison to southern California.
The selection of the jury in its Orange County trial is scheduled to begin on July 13, with opening statements scheduled for July 20.
Meghann M. Cuniff is a Journalist in Southern California. you‘s on Twitter @meghanncuniff.
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