1. Michael John Avenatti was born on February 16,1971 and is an American former attorney currently incarcerated in federal prison for felony fraud and extortion.
79 Facts About Michael Avenatti
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Michael Avenatti is best known for his legal representation of adult film actress Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against then US President Donald Trump, and his multiple convictions for attempting to extort sports apparel company Nike and defrauding and embezzling settlement money from a series of other clients.
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In March 2019, Michael Avenatti was indicted in California and New York on various criminal counts including extortion, tax evasion, fraud, and embezzlement.
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On February 14,2020, Michael Avenatti was convicted of extorting Nike in a New York court, and on July 8,2021, he was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
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Michael Avenatti was disbarred from practice in California on February 5,2025.
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Michael Avenatti was born on February 16,1971, in Sacramento, California, into a family of Italian heritage.
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Michael Avenatti spent his early childhood in Colorado and Utah.
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Michael Avenatti moved with his family to Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb of St Louis, in 1982, where he attended Parkway Central High School.
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Michael Avenatti's application was initially wait-listed, and he was eventually admitted to its evening school program.
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Michael Avenatti graduated in 2000 and ranked first in his class with a Juris Doctor with high honors and Order of the Coif membership.
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In college and later in law school, Michael Avenatti worked at The Research Group, a political opposition research and media firm run by Rahm Emanuel.
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Michael Avenatti worked on over 150 Democratic and Republican campaigns in 42 states while studying at George Washington University.
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Michael Avenatti assisted Petrocelli on multiple legal matters, including the representation of singer Christina Aguilera and litigation surrounding the movie K-19: The Widowmaker, and worked extensively for Don Henley and Glenn Frey of the musical group the Eagles, including in a suit brought by former bandmate Don Felder against the group and Irving Azoff.
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In 2007, Michael Avenatti formed the law firm Eagan Michael Avenatti, LLP with offices in Newport Beach, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, all in California.
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Michael Avenatti appeared on 60 Minutes three times in connection with cases he has handled.
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Michael Avenatti served as lead counsel on a number of historically large cases, including an April 2017 $454 million verdict after a jury trial in Federal Court in Los Angeles in a fraud case against Kimberly-Clark and Halyard Health, later reduced to a $21.7 million verdict upon appeal, an $80.5 million class-action settlement against Service Corporation International, and a $41 million jury verdict against KPMG.
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In 2013, Michael Avenatti formed a company, Global Baristas, to buy Seattle-based Tully's Coffee out of bankruptcy.
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Michael Avenatti first formed a partnership with actor Patrick Dempsey, but Dempsey later backed away from the venture after a short legal battle that resulted in a settlement.
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In 2015, Michael Avenatti prevailed against the National Football League following a jury trial in Dallas.
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Michael Avenatti later pursued a class-action suit on behalf of fans who showed up for Super Bowl XLV with tickets that didn't correspond to actual seats, but the courts in Texas declined to certify the class.
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In 2016, Michael Avenatti filed another class action lawsuit against the NFL, this time on behalf of ticket-holders to the annual Hall of Fame Game, which was canceled a few hours before kickoff.
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In 2017, ex-con Gerald Tobin alleged Michael Avenatti failed to pay him $28,700 for private investigatory work.
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Tobin's claim forced Michael Avenatti to cancel a deposition in an unrelated lawsuit days later, raising the question of collusion between Michael Avenatti and Tobin.
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The issue was resolved when the pair entered a non-disclosure agreement, and Michael Avenatti paid Tobin the $28,700.
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Michael Avenatti has defaulted on a $440,000 verdict in back taxes, penalties, and interest that he was personally obligated to pay under another bankruptcy settlement.
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Eagan Michael Avenatti had been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and, in December 2017, had agreed to pay $4.8 million in unpaid fees to a former partner, $2 million in back taxes, and $1 million to other creditors.
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In January 2019, a former client filed an arbitration against Michael Avenatti, alleging misuse of settlement funds Eagan Michael Avenatti LLP had received in trust.
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The primary basis for the action was Michael Avenatti's alleged embezzlement of $1,600,000 in funds from client Greg Barela.
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Michael Avenatti had been planning to race the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, but replaced himself with Patrick Long a few weeks before the event because scheduling conflicts had arisen with his other business interests.
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At the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, Michael Avenatti teamed up with Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Saud and Polish driver Jakub "Kuba" Giermaziak in the No 66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia.
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Michael Avenatti assisted Leonard in developing relationships and gaining interviews with earned media in order to sway public opinion.
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Michael Avenatti unearthed information relating to the 1992 Pepsi Number Fever disaster in the Philippines, as the result of a failed Pepsi marketing campaign.
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Michael Avenatti eventually left the team over disagreement with his methods.
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Michael Avenatti represented Daniels in a related defamation suit against Trump.
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Michael Avenatti said he would appeal that decision; Daniels later said that Michael Avenatti had initiated the suit against her wishes.
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Michael Avenatti was a frequent guest on talk shows and cable news programs to discuss the cases, logging 108 CNN and MSNBC appearances between March 7 and May 10,2018.
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In May 2018, Michael Avenatti released records showing multiple large payments, some from major corporations, into the bank account Cohen had used to pay Daniels.
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The US Treasury Department opened an investigation into how Michael Avenatti gained information from Cohen's private bank records.
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Michael Avenatti withdrew the motion, and appeared on MSNBC that same day.
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In early March 2019, Daniels terminated her arrangement with Michael Avenatti, replacing him with attorney Clark Brewster.
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On June 2,2022, Michael Avenatti was sentenced to four years in prison for defrauding Daniels.
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Michael Avenatti provided a video to MSNBC, which aired on the June 25,2018, episode of The Rachel Maddow Show, a "secretly shot" video of a child in the custody of immigration officials who was separated from her mother.
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Michael Avenatti then announced that he had a client who made additional allegations against Kavanaugh as both a witness and a victim of his inappropriate behavior and that she would soon come forward publicly.
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Michael Avenatti announced that he had a sworn declaration by another woman corroborating Swetnick's accusations.
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Michael Avenatti expressed that she had only given her sworn declaration a cursory look.
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The response to NBC News by Michael Avenatti was that she read, signed, and repeatedly stood behind the sworn declaration.
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Senator Gary Peters said that Michael Avenatti's allegation "turns [sic] it into a circus atmosphere and certainly that's not where we should be", while another Senate aide said that "Democrats and the country would have been better off if Mr Michael Avenatti spent his time on his Iowa vanity project rather than meddling in Supreme Court fights".
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Michael Avenatti fired back, criticizing anonymous Democrats as "cowards", arguing that this showed "failed leadership" in the Democratic Party.
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Michael Avenatti accused Kelly of violating the terms of his bail release, but Michael Avenatti's comments led to no legal trouble for Kelly.
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Michael Avenatti criticized Kelly's interview with Gayle King in a series of tweets.
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Michael Avenatti expressed interest in running for President of the United States in 2020; he started a political action committee, and held his first fundraiser at the Democratic Wing Ding in August.
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In September 2018, Michael Avenatti said he would run in 2020 only against Trump or Pence.
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On November 1,2018, Michael Avenatti released his first political ad, which urged Americans to vote on November 6,2018; The Washington Post ranked him a top 15 contender.
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On December 4,2018, Michael Avenatti announced that he would not be a candidate for president of the United States in 2020.
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In November 2018, Michael Avenatti was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence.
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The Los Angeles Police Department later confirmed Michael Avenatti was arrested for felony domestic violence and his bail was set at $50,000.
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The filing stated that Miniutti and Michael Avenatti had been residing together, and alleged that they had gotten into an argument over money before Michael Avenatti hit her in the face with pillows and dragged her across their apartment floor.
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Michael Avenatti's settlement offers in his suit against Nike became so overly aggressive that the prosecutors of his case contended that he was engaging in extortion.
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Nike had agreed to pay a coach damages to settle a case; however, Michael Avenatti concealed this from the coach because Nike's offer didn't include attorney's fees.
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On March 25,2019, Michael Avenatti was arrested in New York City, and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York announced that they were charging Michael Avenatti with attempting to extort up to $25 million from US athletic apparel and shoe company Nike by threatening to make damaging charges against the company.
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Michael Avenatti allegedly claimed that Nike improperly made payments to families of high school basketball players.
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The arrest came about 15 minutes after Michael Avenatti announced he would be holding a press conference the next day, at which he claimed he would reveal information about a high school and college basketball scandal involving Nike.
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On February 14,2020, Michael Avenatti was found guilty on all three counts related to the attempted extortion of Nike.
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Michael Avenatti faced potentially more than 40 years in prison.
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The indictment said that Michael Avenatti had embezzled money from a client and had defrauded a Mississippi bank by submitting false tax returns to obtain more than $4 million in loans.
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Prosecutors alleged that Michael Avenatti had not filed personal tax returns for the years in question.
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Michael Avenatti was accused of withholding client funds and applying most of the settlement money of $1.75 million, along with his included $1 million fees, to invest $2.5 million in a share of a private jet.
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Michael Avenatti was further accused of misrepresenting Whiteside's settlement payment as monthly installments, which he paid out until June 2018, totaling $194,000.
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Michael Avenatti had not appeared in court to defend himself and appealed that judgment.
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Michael Avenatti is accused of stealing money from clients to purchase a $5 million private jet he co-owned, as well as fraud related to tax documents and banking information.
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On May 22,2019, Michael Avenatti was charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft as a result of allegations that he stole money from former client Stormy Daniels while helping negotiate her 2018 book deal.
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Michael Avenatti was released on a $300,000 bail bond on the conditions that he notify authorities of any travel plans and that he have no contact with Daniels.
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On February 4,2022, Michael Avenatti was convicted in a New York federal court of identity theft and wire fraud for stealing from Daniels.
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In May 2022, Michael Avenatti's attorneys submitted a letter of apology to Daniels saying he was "truly sorry", and that he failed her in many respects.
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On June 2,2022, Michael Avenatti was sentenced to four years in prison with.
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The State Bar contends that the evidence submitted with the petition establishes that Michael Avenatti has committed professional misconduct that has caused or is causing substantial harm to Michael Avenatti's clients or the public.
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Michael Avenatti was again arrested on January 14,2020, during a recess in court for his disbarment proceedings, for violating the terms of a previous release, and was expected to appear in federal court in Santa Ana, California, on January 15.
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Prosecutors in California accused Michael Avenatti of violating the conditions of his release by committing a series of financial crimes while free on bond: structuring currency transactions to avoid reporting requirements and concealing his personal assets from his creditors.
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Michael Avenatti was married for 13 years to Christine Carlin, with whom he has two daughters.