Portrait of Michael Avenatti (Image: Wikimedia)
Celebrity lawyer and once presidential-hopeful Michael Avenatti has been arrested. Charged in two separate cases – one in New York for trying to extort Nike for over $20 million and another in Los Angeles for bank fraud and embezzling money from his clients – Avenatti was arrested Monday morning and charged in each of the separate cases.
In a press conference Monday afternoon, authorities from Los Angeles and New York explained the reasons behind the arrest. In Los Angeles, U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna spoke of the wire and bank fraud indictment, while U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman released a timeline of Avenatti’s alleged extortion of Nike onto Twitter, which took place only a couple of days ago.
Although the two cases are completely separate, Hanna confirmed during his interview that New York and Los Angeles had worked together to arrange for Avenatti’s arrest. As of now, Avenatti is due to be presented in federal court later today.
Meanwhile, a number of Avenatti’s biggest rivals have been celebrating the news, which came just after Attorney General Bill Barr decided not to charge President Donald Trump (Avenatti’s chief rival) with obstruction. Taking to social media to gloat, the President’s son Donald Trump, Jr. used his father’s campaign slogan to boast of the news: “MAGA- Michael Avenatti Getting Arrested!!!” he wrote. Meanwhile, Fox News pundit Lauren Igraham posted, “it’s Lent but it feels like Christmas. Avenatti charged. Trump cleared.” Stormy Daniels, whom Avenatti had previously represented in a case against the President and his lawyer Michael Cohen, also took to Twitter to express her thoughts, saying that she was “saddened but not shocked” by the charges. Daniels and Avenatti had just come through a rather intense falling-out.
You can watch the full video of the two press conferences here.
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