U.S. lawyer Michael Avenatti gets trial date on charges of stealing from
ex-client
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[October 09, 2019]
By Brendan Pierson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyer Michael
Avenatti, who became nationally known as an outspoken critic of U.S.
President Donald Trump before his arrest earlier this year, will stand
trial in April on charges that he stole from his former client Stormy
Daniels, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts set the April 21 trial date at a brief
hearing in Manhattan federal court. The trial is expected to last one to
two weeks.
Avenatti, 48, was arrested in New York in March. New York prosecutors
have charged him with stealing nearly $300,000 from Daniels in the
course of representing her and helping her secure a book deal, to which
he has pleaded not guilty.
The prosecutors said Avenatti diverted two $148,750 installment payments
from Daniels' $800,000 book advance by forging her signature in a letter
to her literary agent and directing that the money be sent to his bank
account.
Avenatti eventually paid $148,750 to Daniels after obtaining the funds
from another source, according to prosecutors. However, when Daniels
asked about the second payment, Avenatti falsely told Daniels the
publisher "owes me a payment" and that he was "on it," prosecutors said.
Avenatti's lawyer, Dean Steward, said at Tuesday's hearing that he was
considering filing a motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that it
was motivated by the "vindictiveness" of Avenatti's political enemies in
the Trump administration.
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Attorney Michael Avenatti arrives at the United States Courthouse in
the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., October 8, 2019.
REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Batts, however, expressed skepticism.
"This office is not known for being vindictive," she said of the
Manhattan federal prosecutors who brought the charges.
Avenatti is charged in a separate federal case in New York with
trying to extort Nike Inc. Prosecutors in that case have accused
Avenatti of threatening to publicize claims that Nike arranged for
payments to elite college basketball recruits unless the athletic
wear company paid him more than $20 million and hired him to manage
an internal probe.
A trial in that case had been scheduled for November, but Avenatti
has asked that it be postponed until January.
He is also charged by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles with
stealing millions of dollars from clients to pay for personal and
business expenses and lying to the Internal Revenue Service and a
Mississippi bank about his finances. A trial in that case is
scheduled for May 19.
Avenatti has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Cynthia
Osterman)
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