Michael Avenatti, the 48-year-old Southern California litigation attorney, was largely unknown outside of the legal community as recently as 18 months ago. But his meteoric rise to national media stardom representing AVN Hall of Famer Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against Donald Trump was as sudden as it was short-lived.
And on Tuesday, approximately 14 months after filing Daniels’ initial lawsuit, The New York Times reported, Avenatti found himself in a federal courtroom entering a not guilty plea to charges that he bilked Daniels out of almost $300,000.
Prosecutors charge that after Avenatti helped Daniels secure a book deal, he deceived the book’s publisher into wiring $250,000 of Daniels’ advance into a bank account that he controlled, and that Avenatti then used the cash siphoned from Daniels’ advance to pay for his own “plane tickets, hotel stays, meal delivery, dry cleaning and a monthly payment on a Ferrari,” according to a Times report.
His not guilty plea in the Daniels case was just the beginning of Avenatti’s day on Tuesday. Following that plea, he walked to a separate, nearby federal courthouse in Manhattan, where he entered four pleas of, in his words, “100 percent not guilty” to charges that he attempted to extort about $20 million from the athletic-shoe manufacturing giant Nike, according to a CNBC report.
But Avenatti appeared in high spirits during his day in court, and attempted to recall his recent past as a leading critic and legal thorn in the side of Trump, asking reporters at the federal court, “Anybody know when the president and Don Jr. are going to be arraigned?” according to a Times account.
Later, in remarks to reporters outside the court, Avenatti appeared to suggest that Trump himself was behind the federal charges now being leveled against him.
"For over 20 years, I have represented Davids versus Goliaths across this nation in many courthouses just like this," Avenatti said, as reported by CNN. "I am now facing the fight of my life against the ultimate Goliath, the Trump administration.”
Asked on Wednesday about Avenatti, Trump appeared to gloat over his erstwhile adversary’s legal woes. With an audible chuckle, Trump replied, “I wish him a lot of luck!”
Photo By Time.com YouTube Screen Capture
