Prosecutors: Avenatti in deep debt wanted big payday

You remember the porn lawyer, Michael Avenatti--he's the guy who spent more air time on CNN than Adam Schiff. Okay, maybe not more time, but at least as much as old "Bug Eyes." They loved Avenatti at the Comedy News Network, he was the antidote for President Trump and golly, maybe he would be our next progressive president, they thought.

But the California shyster is in deep legal poo as prosecutors say that he was up to his scalp in debt to the tune of $15 million when he attempted to extort up to $25 million from Nike. His lawyers say, however, that the money he legally requested was to conduct an internal probe of Nike and what he was asking for [i.e., trying to extort] was actually quite a bargain.

The Manhattan criminal trial is set for January 22 and U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe will have to decide what the jury will be permitted to hear from both sides. However, a bigger question will be whether or not CNN and MSNBC will cover the case and the three scheduled subsequent trials over the next five months.

Avenatti has denied all charges, as is his wont.

The criminal charges against him in the other cases include allegations in New York that he defrauded his ex-client porn actress Stormy Daniels [who was referred to as "Horse Face" by President Trump] out of proceeds of a book deal and charges in Los Angeles that he defrauded clients of millions of dollars.

Federal prosecutors said they will show the jury that the former CNN star and porn lawyer owed "conservatively, in excess of $15 million" to former clients, one or more former law partners, and a lawyer referred to by the government as "Attorney-1," they said.

Prosecutors also plan to prove Avenatti's debts through documents and testimony from a witness who helped the CNN star manage his finances and a law enforcement witness.

The evidence will prove “that he had extraordinary indebtedness, and thus the need and motive to quickly generate substantial sums of money at the time when he engaged in the charged conduct,” prosecutors wrote, and these debts were relevant to uncover his motives, especially since he claimed that his motives were "benign or even altruistic."

Yeah sure, Avenatti is about as altruistic as a snake and as benign as stage 4 cancer.

Please consider following this blog and visit the ads on this page.

Tweet