Supreme Court rejects appeal from Stormy Daniels’ disgraced ex-attorney Michael Avenatti
Former lawyer was convicted of attempting to extort sportswear giant Nike
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The US Supreme Court has rejected the latest appeal from Stormy Daniels’ disgraced former attorney Michael Avenatti after he sought to have his conviction overturned for defrauding a client and trying to extort sportswear giant Nike.
Avenatti, 53, who rose to national prominence representing the adult film star in 2018, was convicted and sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison over the extortion plot in 2020.
An appeals court previously upheld his conviction, prompting Avenatti to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court.
In a brief court order on Tuesday, which offered no explanation for the decision, the justices in the nation’s highest court spurned his latest appeal.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh did not participate in the Supreme Court’s decision, seemingly because Avenatti had previously represented Julie Swetnick – a woman who made claims of sexual misconduct against Justice Kavanaugh at his Senate confirmation hearing. Justice Kavanaugh denied the allegations against him and he was sworn onto the bench.
Avenatti’s extortion plot centered around a 2019 audio where he threatened to stain the company’s reputation and hurt its stock price by exposing allegedly corrupt payments to families of college basketball prospects.
In the audio, Avenatti was heard threatening to “blow the lid” on Nike at a press conference unless it paid up to $25m for him to conduct a probe, plus $1.5m to his client, youth basketball coach Gary Franklin.
Prosecutors said Avenatti was looking to enrich himself and pay down heavy debts tied to his law firm and a recent divorce at the time.
He was convicted of extorting Nike and of committing “honest services fraud” against Mr Franklin – where someone in a position of authority deprives a client or constituent of his right to honest services.
For his part, Mr Franklin testified that he did not want an investigation and merely wanted Nike to resume sponsoring his team. The corporation denied any wrongdoing in the case.
In August 2023, the Manhattan-based US 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Avenatti’s appeal against his convictions.
Avenatti then appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the 1988 statute criminalizing honest services fraud is so vague that it violates the right of defendants to due process under the US Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.
His lawyers also urged the justices to take up the case to declare that settlement negotiations like Avenatti’s communications with Nike cannot give rise to criminal extortion charges.
President Joe Biden‘s administration recommended that the justices reject the appeal.
In total, he has been sentenced to 19 years in prison in three criminal cases. He is currently serving time in California with a scheduled release date of August 2035, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
Avenatti was convicted of defrauding Ms Daniels out of a book contract. He was sentenced in June 2022 to two-and-a-half years behind bars in that case. An appeals court upheld that conviction in March.
Avenatti was also sentenced to 14 years in prison in December 2022 after he pleaded guilty to cheating four other clients, including a paraplegic man, out of millions of dollars.
The disgraced attorney first shot to fame six years ago while representing Ms Daniels in litigation against then-US president Donald Trump – a matter that has recently made headlines again in Mr Trump’s criminal hush money trial.
Ms Daniels took the stand to testify at the trial about her alleged sexual encounter with Mr Trump in 2006 and how she was then paid $130,000 hush money to stay silent before the 2016 election.
Additional reporting by agencies