![]() ![]() Avenatti, the enormous damage left behind will be felt by his former clients for quite some time. “While today’s sentencing concludes the government’s case against Mr. The money was used to fuel a lavish lifestyle that had no limits,” stated Tyler Hatcher, the Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Los Angeles Field Office. Instead of helping his clients receive the compensation that they were owed and needed, he pocketed the money, stealing from people who were already hurting. “Michael Avenatti violated the trust placed in him by his clients. As a result of his illegal acts, he has lost his right to practice law in California, and now he will serve a richly deserved prison sentence.” “He stole millions of dollars from his clients – all to finance his extravagant lifestyle that included a private jet and race cars. In fact, he only cared about his own selfish interests,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “Michael Avenatti was a corrupt lawyer who claimed he was fighting for the little guy. He has been a federal prisoner since on February 7, soon after he was ordered to begin serving a sentence in one of the New York cases. Today’s sentencing follows Avenatti’s entry of guilty pleas on June 16 to four counts of wire fraud and one count of endeavoring to obstruct the administration of the Internal Revenue Code. Judge Selna also ordered Avenatti to pay $10,810,709 in restitution to four clients and to the IRS. In imposing the 14-year sentence, Judge Selna ordered that this term of imprisonment run consecutive to sentences totaling five years previously imposed in two federal cases in the Southern District of New York. Selna, who said Avenatti “has done great evil for which he must answer.” SANTA ANA, California – Suspended plaintiffs’ lawyer Michael John Avenatti was sentenced today to 168 months in federal prison for stealing millions of dollars from his clients – one of whom was a paraplegic with mental health issues – and for obstructing the IRS’s efforts to collect more than $3 million in payroll taxes from an Avenatti-owned coffee business.Īvenatti, 51, a former Newport Beach resident now in federal custody, was sentenced by United States District Judge James V.
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