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SANTA ANA, Calif. – In June disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud and a single count of tax fraud, while admitting to misappropriating funds from clients totaling around $10 million. Now judgment day has arrived and he’s been sentenced to 14 years in prison.
The new 168 month sentence is in addition to five years he is currently serving for other crimes, including stealing almost $300,000 in book-advance money from his then-client porn star Stormy Daniels, the Post Millennial reported.
During his sentencing on Monday, Avenatti appeared stoic, keeping his head down for the most part with his hands resting in front of him while listening to statements from two of four people he swindled, according to Law&Crime News‘ senior reporter Meghann Cuniff.
Finally, it was Avenatti’s chance to address the court as he expressed remorse while acknowledging his crimes.
“You honor, I am deeply sorry and remorseful for my criminal conduct,” he told U.S. District Judge James Selna. “I caused harm and damage to four individuals who relied on me, who needed me and were not only my clients, but my friends.”
He goes on, “I cared about them, helped them and fiercely advocated for them. Yet inexplicably, I later took from them. I will not stand here and attempt to offer any excuses for my conduct because there are none.”
As he dispensed the sentence, Judge Selna told the courtroom that Avenatti had done “great evil for which he must answer” and that he’s shown “an abandonment of some of the most basic principles of fairness.”
“It is now time to pay his debts to the victims, the government and society,” Selna said, just prior to issuing judgment that will incarcerate the “Creepy Porn Lawyer,” as Tucker Carlson refers to him, for more than a dozen years.
Judge Selna goes over the restitution orders first, and it sounds like they match what prosecutors asked for for each victim. Avenatti is standing and so are his standby counsel Courtney Cummings and Dean Steward.
— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) December 5, 2022
After serving five years behind bars for sentences related to two other prosecutions on the East Coast, the 51-year-old will begin serving the 14-year term, Law&Crime reported.
Avenatti became widely known across the country as the attorney representing Daniels in her unsuccessful lawsuit against former President Donald Trump.
Trump is so hated in leftwing circles that Avenatti became a star among the progressive elites prior to his downfall. They even promoted him as a presidential candidate before his crimes became public knowledge.
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Source: www.lawofficer.com