Michael Avenatti, the former attorney for Stormy Daniels, was sentenced to four years in prison on Thursday for stealing nearly $300,000 in book advance money from the adult film star.
The sentencing comes after a federal jury convicted Avenatti in February of aggravated identity fraud and wire fraud, for which he faced up to two years in prison and 20 years in prison, respectively.
The jury found Avenatti stole two advance payments from Daniels in 2018 from a book deal she signed following the revelation that she received $130,000 in hush money from former President Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to remain quiet about an alleged affair she and Trump had before the 2016 presidential election. Trump has denied the affair.
Avenatti also previously received a 2.5 year sentence in a separate case for trying to extort Nike out of $25 million. He will serve a portion of the new sentence alongside the jail sentence he is already serving from the Nike extortion case. In total, he faces five years in prison, according to Reuters.
While prosecutors recommended that he receive a “substantial” prison term in the Daniels case, Avenatti — who represented himself — proposed a three-year sentence, with one year running concurrent with his Nike sentence.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman issued the sentence in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday, calling the disgraced lawyer’s conduct “so brazen and egregious,” CNN reported.
Furman said Avenatti “took advantage of a vulnerable victim given her unorthodox career and somewhat unorthodox beliefs.”
Ahead of the sentencing, Avenatti told the judge, “I have destroyed my career, my relationships and my reputation,” Reuters reported.
Avenatti first rose to fame while representing Daniels in her lawsuit against former Trump.
However, he has fallen from grace since 2019, when he was criminally charged in the Nike extortion case.
He was also charged in California with stealing millions of dollars from five other clients. That case is still open after a mistrial last August.