Former Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti had his federal prison sentence from a June 2022 financial fraud conviction reduced from an initial 14 years during a resentencing on Thursday in California.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that U.S. District Judge James V. Selna on Thursday cut Avenatti’s prison sentence to 135 months, or 11 years and 3 months, for a 2022 conviction for ripping off his California clients and others for millions of dollars.
An incarcerated Avenatti, who made a name for himself representing porn actor Daniels against U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term in the White House, will spend just under eight more years in prison to complete his federal prison sentence, after factoring in time served.
This week’s resentencing of Avenatti is not the end of his legal troubles. In February 2022, Avenatti was also convicted for stealing nearly $300,000 in book proceeds from Daniels and defrauding several other clients while attempting a shakedown of sports clothing giant Nike.
Daniels initially hired Avenatti as part of an attempt to escape the terms of a $130,000 hush payment deal that kept the porn star from speaking publicly about an alleged sexual encounter that Trump claimed never happened. Avenatti parlayed his representation of Daniels into a string of cable news appearances in which he gained national attention for mocking and baiting Trump.
On the financial fraud conviction, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2024 vacated the original 14 years sentence, setting up the resentencing by an erring Judge Selna in a Santa Ana, courthouse on Thursday.
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