Celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti was sentenced to four years behind bars for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his most famous client, porn star Stormy Daniels.
The California lawyer, currently incarcerated, learned his fate in Manhattan federal court, where Judge Jesse M. Furman said the sentence will mean that Avenatti will spend another 2 1/2 years in prison on top of the 2 1/2 years he is already serving after another fraud conviction.
The judge said Avenatti’s crime against Daniels was made “out of desperation” when his law firm was struggling.
He called Avenatti’s behavior “craven and egregious” and blamed it on “blind ambition.”He said he believed the sentence “will send a message to lawyers” that, if they go astray, they will lose their profession and their liberty.
