Stormy Daniels' Ex-Lawyer Michael Avenatti Scores Victory In Wire Fraud Case, Disgraced Attorney Buys Time After Judge Declares Mistrial
Aug. 24 2021, Published 6:18 p.m. ET
Michael Avenatti scored a major victory in his wire fraud trial with a judge essentially giving him a redo.
Stormy Daniels' former attorney — who is already serving 2.5 years in prison for a separate case — was handed a mistrial on Tuesday after the judge ruled that the Justice Department didn't turn over all the necessary financial records it needed to.
Judge James Selna shut down the proceedings and set a new trial date for October.
Avenatti — who is representing himself in the case — argued the files that weren't turned over might have the power to contradict some of the witnesses’ testimony.
Avenatti has been accused of stealing millions of dollars from his clients' settlements and funneling the money back into his own endeavors.
According to the prosecutors, they believed everything had been turned in and fought that Avenatti has access to the same system as they did.
The judge insisted the Justice Department's mistake was not intentional. “Shortcomings there may have been, but I find no misconduct, intentional or otherwise, on the part of the taint team,” her honor reportedly said in the courtroom.
The once high-profile attorney has been hit with charges of wire, tax, and bank fraud.
This is just one of legal battles in his ongoing list.
As RadarOnline.com reported, Avenatti — who rose to fame when he represented Stormy against Donald Trump — openly cried in court when a judge handed down his 30-month prison sentence for attempting to extort Nike out of millions of dollars.
He was sentenced to prison in July and couldn't hide his emotions as he began to weep.
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Avenatti attempted to extort at least $15 million from Nike, claiming he would use his media connections to tarnish the brand's image if they didn't pony up the cash, according to prosecutors.
The former celebrity attorney is also facing his ex-porn star client.
Avenatti is being accused of allegedly stealing a book advance from Daniels. The famous porn star dumped her media-hungry attorney in 2019.
