Disgraced celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti was convicted Friday of stealing nearly $300,000 in book-advance money from his former client, porn star Stormy Daniels. He was found guilty of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft and faces up to 20 years in prison.
“Prosecutors alleged that Avenatti — who helped negotiate the $800,000 advance for Daniels’ October 2018 book ‘Full Disclosure’ — defrauded his former client by instructing her literary agent to send two of the installments of the advance totaling nearly $300,000 to an account controlled by him, rather than directly to Daniels, without her knowledge,” CNN’s reported.
Avenatti represented daniels previously in her lawsuits against former President Trump.
Avenatti was also convicted of extortion, transmission of interstate communications with intent to extort $20 million and wire fraud in connection to threats he made against Nike in 2020. A Federal Judge sentenced him to serve 2.5 years in prison. He is set to report to prison for that conviction later this year.
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