By Andrew Chung
(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to hear celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti’s bid to overturn his 2022 conviction for identity theft for misappropriating nearly $300,000 in book proceeds intended for porn star Stormy Daniels, his former client.
The justices turned away the appeal by Avenatti, who was convicted by a jury in federal court in Manhattan of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in the case. It was the second time in recent months that the Supreme Court denied an appeal by Avenatti in a criminal conviction.
Avenatti, 53, was sentenced to four years in prison for conduct in the book case that the presiding judge called “brazen and egregious.”
He had represented himself during the two-week trial. Avenatti appealed to the Supreme Court after the Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March upheld his conviction, rejecting his claim that following a 2023 Supreme Court ruling narrowing the scope of the aggravated identity theft statute the evidence of his guilt was insufficient.
Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, testified that Avenatti led her to believe that her publisher had not disbursed advance payments totaling $297,500 for her memoir, “Full Disclosure,” when she asked about delays. Evidence in the case showed that Avenatti diverted the funds by directing an employee to forge Daniels’ signature and never asked for permission to sign on her behalf.
In another case, the Supreme Court in May snubbed Avenatti’s bid to overturn his conviction in Manhattan for defrauding a youth basketball coach who he had represented and extorting athletic wear company Nike in a case in which he was sentenced to 2-1/2 years behind bars.
Avenatti in 2022 also sentenced to 14 more years in prison after he pleaded guilty in Santa Ana, California, to cheating four other clients. He is currently incarcerated in California.
He gained notoriety when he represented Daniels in cases against former President Donald Trump, with whom she said she had a sexual encounter in 2006. Daniels was paid $130,000 in hush money by Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to remain silent ahead of the 2016 U.S. election about the encounter, which Trump has denied took place.
Trump was convicted in May by a jury in Manhattan on New York state charges of falsifying business records to cover up the payment to Daniels. Trump is the Republican candidate facing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Additional reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
