Oh how the mighty have fallen.
In the early days of the Trump presidency, Michael Avenatti emerged as the #resistance’s most recognizable grifter. CNN takes the primary responsibility for turning him into a star, practically attempting to deify the man. One analysis from the Media Research Center found that the network gave him 74 appearances in a 10-week period – and he had many more than that.
Host Brian Stelter now-infamously declared that Avenatti could be a challenger to President Donald Trump in 2020. They weren’t the only ones. “Michael Avenatti Is Winning the 2020 Democratic Primary” read one headline in Politico.
Elsewhere on The View, host Ana Navarro compared him to the holy spirit.
It’s now been quite some time since Avenatti has been spotted in the media, and that’s because it turns out he’s been committing more of the seven deadly sins than his deifiers would have you think possible.
In May 2019 he was charged for stealing nearly $300k from Stormy Daniels, because he acted as the agent for her book and then allegedly never paid her the proceeds it generated. In April of the same year he was indicted by a California grand jury for embezzling money from a disabled client. And throughout 2019 he faced various charges related to an extortion attempt from Nike, and was found guilty in February of this year.
His house of cards has come crashing down faster than he built it, and now sentencing is around the corner for the Nike case. According to the New York Post:
A federal judge Monday pushed back disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti’s sentencing for trying to shakedown nearly $25 million from Nike due to the spike in COVID-19 infections.
It marked the fourth sentencing adjournment in the case — and was granted over the objection of Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky, who said a number of in-person proceedings had been safely conducted in Manhattan federal court.
U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe’s one-page order delayed the sentencing currently scheduled for Dec. 9 to Feb. 17, 2021. Avenatti faces up to 42 years behind bars.
Manhattan prosecutors also plan on trying Avenatti in the Stormy Daniels case next year.
As for his Presidential ambitions, Eugene Debs ran for President from jail before – maybe Avenatti will give it a try too. He won’t have much else going on.
