If you are forced between defrauding your clients or stiffing the IRS out of their money, pick a struggle! Star lawyer Michael Avenatti made the foolish choice to double up on the bad decisions and was sentenced to 14 years in prison back in 2022. Since then he’s since pushed for a resentening — The LA Times has the results:
Michael Avenatti, the once-swaggering celebrity lawyer who represented adult film star Stormy Daniels in her court battles against President Trump, was resentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison for dodging taxes and stealing millions of dollars from clients.
U.S. District Judge James V. Selna resentenced Avenatti to 135 months — slightly more than 11 years — but credited him 40 months for the time he has served in prison for stealing nearly $300,000 from Daniels’ advance on a book contract. That brought his sentence to nearly eight years.
Knocking several years off of your sentence is far from walking free, but it is still second best. Avenatti has also been making the best of his time behind bars by tutoring inmates and being a suicide watch companion. You could question the motivations of the good work he’s done behind bars — prosecutor Brett Sagel accused Avenatti of being unrepentant and only doing things that benefit him — but you cannot question the work itself. That goes for his good deeds as much as his legal ones: Avenatti and his legal team seem to have a couple more (potentially) sentence shortening arguments up their sleeves.
Former Celebrity Lawyer Michael Avenatti Gets Nearly Eight More Years In Prison At Resentencing [LA Times]
Earlier: Above The Law’s 2018 Lawyer Of The Year Sentenced To 30 Months
While Trump Continues To Avoid Jail Time For His Shenanigans, Michael Avenatti Isn’t As Lucky
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim, is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
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