Feds Intend To Dismiss 31 Charges Against Michael Avenatti Following His Recent Guilty Plea

Michael Avenatti

According to a Tuesday continuance request submitted in a Santa Ana, California court, federal prosecutors intend to dismiss numerous unresolved charges against celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti who has fallen from glory.

On June 15, 2022, the government submitted its most recent request for a continuance, asking for more time before the trial could start on numerous counts of fraud and embezzlement that were initially brought in 2019.

Michael Avenatti entered a plea of guilty to five of those charges the very following day, including four counts of wire fraud involving the theft of client cash and one count of attempting to impede the IRS from collecting $5 million in payroll taxes for a coffee shop he owned.

The defendant then moved to have the government’s request for a continuance denied the following day, on June 17, 2022.

In its motion on Tuesday, the prosecution took issue with Avenatti’s argument that the Speedy Trial Act should forbid a further continuance, although the argument is now largely moot.

The Government To Ask the Judge To Consider All Of Michael Avenatti’s Charges

Nevertheless, the government will probably request that the judge take all of Michael Avenatti’s charges into account when determining his sentence. He could spend up to 83 years in prison under the law. The actual sentence will most likely be far shorter than that.

Of course, the defendant will present his arguments to the California judge. He entered “open” guilty pleas, which meant that he and the government had not formally reached a plea deal.

After being found guilty in New York of cheating Stormy Daniels, the client who made him famous, by diverting nearly $300,000 in book proceeds from her, the 51-year-old lawyer is currently taking a break from practicing law in the Golden State. He is also now spending time in federal court for an unrelated effort to extort $25 million from the sporting gear manufacturer Nike.

In the Daniels case, Michael Avenatti received a four-year prison term, which was announced earlier this month. He was already serving a 2.5-year sentence in the Nike case at the time.