Michael Avenatti sentenced to 14 years in prison for California fraud schemeThe disgraced lawyer was ordered to pay $7 million in restitution after admitting he pocketed millions of dollars that belonged to clients and lied to them about it.Dec. 5, 2022, 4:08 PM EST / Source: Associated Press
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Incarcerated lawyer Michael Avenatti was sentenced in Southern California on Monday to 14 years in prison and ordered to pay $7 million in restitution after admitting he cheated four of his clients out of millions of dollars.
The sentence should run consecutively to the five-year prison term he is currently serving for separate convictions in New York, U.S. District Judge James V. Selna said during a hearing in Santa Ana, California.
Avenatti pleaded guilty earlier this year to four counts of wire fraud and a tax-related charge without reaching a plea deal with federal prosecutors, saying he wanted to be accountable and spare his family further embarrassment. He was accused of negotiating and collecting settlement payments on behalf of his clients and instead funneling the money to accounts he controlled.
Before sentencing, Avenatti apologized to the four victims in the case, three of whom were in the courtroom.
“I am deeply remorseful and contrite,” Avenatti said. “There is no doubt that all of them deserve much better, and I hope that someday they will accept my apologies and find it in their heart to forgive me.”
Prosecutor Brett Sagel told the court that Avenatti’s criminal conduct “arose from calculated choices and egregious violations of the trust” his clients placed in him.
“He didn’t turn to his criminal actions by desperation, by need, by the inability to do anything else,” Sagel said. “Despite the significant advantages that this defendant had — a first-rate education, a thriving legal career — he chose to commit the deplorable acts in this case time and time again.”
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