Donald Trump’s longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone remains free at least until late February, after he was convicted in November of lying to investigators, witness tampering, and obstructing Congress. But Stormy Daniels' former lawyer, an outspoken opponent of Trump, now sits in a cold, federal jail cell in a notoriously brutal prison unit, after his bail was revoked on extortion and fraud charges last week.
Michael Avenatti has been charged with a number of financial crimes, including allegedly swindling Daniels out of a publisher’s book advance of nearly $300,000. As Daniels’ lawyer in 2018, Avenatti rose suddenly from obscure, Southern California litigator to national celebrity, thanks to his months-long media blitz on the back of Daniels’ “hush money” lawsuit against Trump.
In most of his hundreds of media appearances, Avenatti repeatedly took aim at Trump, and his then-lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen—who is himself now in federal prison following convictions stemming from the $130,000 “hush” payoff to Daniels over a 2006 extramarital sexual encounter.
He was arrested last week in the middle of a hearing on his possible disbarment in front of the California state bar association. Prosecutors say that he violated the terms of his bail by continuing to commit financial crimes even during his bail release.
His own lawyers now say that he is being held in the same Manhattan federal holding facility that has also housed terrorists and drug traffickers—including the notorious Mexican cartel boss Joaquin Guzman, better known as “El Chapo.” In fact, Guzman last year described his stay in the notoriously brutal Manhattan jail as "psychological, emotional, mental torture 24 hours a day."
The cell is kept at temperatures as low as the 40-degree range, forcing a shivering Avenatti to sleep under three blankets in the cell, his lawyers say.
The Special Housing Unit at Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, where Avenatti is now held, became the center of controversy last year when accuse multimillionaire sex trafficker—and former friend of Trump—Jeffrey Epstein died there, reportedly by hanging himself.
The MCC warden, M. Licon-Vitale, said that Avenatti was being confined in the Special Housing Unit “for his own safety,” according to a CNBC report.
Photo By Showtime The Circus / Wikimedia Commons
