Disbarred Attorney Michael Avenatti resentenced

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Disbarred attorney Michael Avenatti, who gained fame representing adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in her litigation against President Donald Trump, was resentenced Thursday to 11 years and three months in prison.

His sentence was reduced from the original sentence of 14 years for his admission to tax and wire fraud.

What we know:

With credit for the roughly 40 months he has already served in the Daniels case, Avenatti will now have to serve another 95 months in federal prison, or just under eight years. Four years ago, Avenatti was also sentenced to 30 months for extorting the shoe company Nike. Thirty months of the Daniels case term were to be imposed consecutively, with the remainder to run concurrently.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in October overturned his original 14-year sentence, saying U.S. District Judge James Selna erred when he did not account for the value of Avenatti's legal services to his victims and improperly increased the punishment on the grounds of obstruction of justice based on perjury.

Selna "failed to make explicit findings as to the elements of obstruction of justice based on perjury, so the enhancement must be vacated," the appellate judges ruled.

The appellate judges also sided with Avenatti on Selna erring in an enhancement of the punishment based on his calculation of the $12.3 million from the losses due to fraud.

The backstory:

Ahead of Thursday's hearing, prosecutors asked that Avenatti be resentenced to 160 months, just shy of the original 14-year sentence handed down three years ago. Avenatti was seeking 78 months, minus the time he has already served.

Probation officials recommended 97 months, or roughly 57 more months taking into account time served.

Selna's tentative ruling was for 121 months, but he increased it after hearing from victim Alexis Gardner. She told the judge that she has learned over the years that she's "not qualified to impact federal proceedings," but her statement influenced Selna's ruling.

"Michael Avenatti is a legal predator," Gardner told Selna. "I'm still rebuilding my life. ... It cost me a lot to survive."

If she had received the $2.7 million settlement she expected, "I would be a homeowner. I would have a car. I would have savings."

She added, "I still struggle with trusting people."

Avenatti told Selna, "I can't go back and change the past. ... All I can do is move forward in a positive way and that's what I'm going to attempt to do."

What they're saying:

In a letter to Selna, Avenatti said he thinks of the "harm" he caused his victims every day.

"They each deserved far better and I deeply regret the pain I caused," he wrote. "There is no question that what I did was wrong."

He said the "greatest moments" he has had in prison came when he helped others.

"In a strange way, and after having years to reflect on my life and conduct, I feel that perhaps I needed to be sent prison and experience my downfall to be reminded of the things that really matter in life," he wrote. "And that money isn't one of them."

Selna ordered $5.9 million in restitution.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Sagel, who has retired and was handling his final case on Thursday, downplayed Avenatti's good conduct in prison, arguing his underlying crimes outweigh that. Sagel pointed to testimony Avenatti has given as recently as last year in which the prosecutor said Avenatti moved to block repayments to victims from the state Bar of California and other third parties and bragged about the ratings his appearances on "60 Minutes" received.

"Three years later nothing has changed," Sagel said, referring to Selna's original sentence.

"I can't ignore his post-sentencing conduct," Selna told Sagel.

"He is the same, unrepentant person," Sagel responded. "He's the same person likely to commit crimes in the future as he was in 2022."

"I can't write off his actions," Selna said. "His actions speak for themselves."

Avenatti's public defenders argued in court papers that he has been a model inmate while in custody.

Avenatti was selected as a suicide watch companion for fellow inmates and has completed hundreds of hours of classes, including a drug abuse program, and has regularly attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and religious services and has served as a GED tutor for fellow inmates, his attorneys said.

Avenatti's public defender, Adithya Mani, noted that Bureau of Prisons officials "have no skin in the game," and sang his praises as an inmate.

"He has shown true remorse," Mani said. "He's trying to help every way he can (in prison)."

A lighter sentence would "send a message" about good conduct in prison, Mani argued.

"The court can send a message to every single inmate... if you truly change your ways it will matter," he argued.

Avenatti's other attorney, Margaret Farrand, argued that even before he landed in court Avenatti had done good deeds. She said Avenatti was helpful in the prosecution of singer R. Kelly, who was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking.

"He took on numerous clients pro bono," Farrand argued.

"I have not seen a BOP report as positive or detailed" about an inmate, Farrand said.

Farrand argued that the loss amount was actually about $1.5 to $3.4 million.

Avenatti pointed to the 57-month sentence given to Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani who stole millions of dollars from the Dodger slugger to pay off gambling debts, as a comparison. His attorneys also pointed out that disbarred attorney Tom Girardi was sentenced to 87 months with losses between $9.5 million to $25 million.

Sagel argued that in 2017 Avenatti took the settlement money for Gardner to buy a jet and "She hasn't gotten a penny yet... That tells the story, the whole story."

Avenatti also contested the loss amounts claimed by his victims, arguing that many services he provided for the clients were not included in the calculations.

Prosecutors argued that the loss to victims was $8.123 million.

Prosecutors allege that Avenatti obstructed justice by lying in various civil and criminal proceedings, but Avenatti disputed that he was ever dishonest in his testimony.

Prosecutors also argued in court papers that a criminal history score for Avenatti "substantially under-represents his likelihood of recidivism, given his grudging (at best) admission of what he did wrong in the instant case, and his lack of remorse for his victims, as reflected in his efforts to prevent his victims from recovering any of the monies he stole from them from third parties."

Prosecutors added that his "crimes were exceedingly serious. Defendant inflicted tremendous harm on his wire fraud victims, who testified about those harms at trial and have submitted victim impact statements that further describe the financial and emotional harms defendant caused."

One of his clients, who sued and won a settlement after he became a paraplegic, said, "To this day, I do not know why Michael lied and deceived me, why he broke my trust, why he broke my heart. I trusted him implicitly, I believed the things he told me, but it was all part of his plan to defraud me of my settlement. To this day, I have a hard time trusting people because of what Michael did, and I live in constant fear of being taken advantage of again, particularly given my physical disability."

Avenatti had made an open plea to tax and wire fraud, meaning he had no guarantee what his sentence would be, in June 2022. Selna's sentence came down after Avenatti had received five years in prison in New York for an extortion scheme against Nike, and for stealing from Daniels. Selna in 2022 ordered the punishment to run consecutively with the New York case.

Crime and Public Safety