https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/lawyer-michael-avenatti-sentenced-14-years-federal-prison-stealing-millions-dollars
Lawyer Michael Avenatti Sentenced to 14 Years in Federal Prison for Stealing Millions of Dollars from Clients and Tax Fraud (DOJ)
Monday, December 5, 2022
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California
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.
Avenatti, 51, a former Newport Beach resident now in federal custody, was sentenced by United States District Judge James V. Selna, who said Avenatti “has done great evil for which he must answer.”
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.
Judge Selna also ordered Avenatti to pay $10,810,709 in restitution to four clients and to the IRS.
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. 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.
“Michael Avenatti was a corrupt lawyer who claimed he was fighting for the little guy. In fact, he only cared about his own selfish interests,” said United Post too long. Click here to view the full text.
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