London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jul 21, 2025

Michael Avenatti convicted of stealing from porn star Stormy Daniels

Michael Avenatti convicted of stealing from porn star Stormy Daniels

Avenatti was convicted on charges he cheated Daniels out of nearly US$300,000 she was supposed to get for writing a book about an alleged tryst with former US president Donald Trump.

Michael Avenatti was convicted on Friday of charges he cheated the porn actor Stormy Daniels out of nearly US$300,000 she was supposed to get for writing a book about an alleged tryst with former US president Donald Trump.

Avenatti stared straight ahead as the verdict was read. It was another crushing defeat for the California lawyer, who has faced a host of legal problems after briefly rising to fame as one of Trump’s leading antagonists on cable news early in the Republican’s administration.

Avenatti fired his lawyers and decided to represent himself soon after the trial began, setting up a face-to-face showdown with Daniels, his former client, who appeared in a new role as star witness.

Lawyer Michael Avenatti arrives at Federal court in Manhattan, New York on January 24.


Prosecutors portrayed Avenatti as a common thief and serial liar. He countered by seeking to cast himself as a white knight who came to the rescue of Daniels until he turned on her.

Over two days of cross-examination, he questioned her about the allegations that he had swindled her out of book proceeds – and about ghost stories she had told for a possible show about the supernatural world.

Avenatti still faces other legal problems.

He has yet to begin serving a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence he received in 2020 for trying to extort up to US$25 million from sportswear giant Nike.

He also is awaiting a retrial in Los Angeles on charges that he ripped off clients and others for millions of dollars. He represented himself last year for six weeks before a mistrial resulted.

Daniels had initially hired Avenatti as she was trying to escape the terms of a US$130,000 hush payment deal that kept her from speaking publicly about an alleged sexual encounter that Trump says never happened.

Avenatti parlayed his representation with Daniels into a string of cable news appearances, in which he mocked and baited Trump.

When Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, was raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in connection with tax evasion and payments made to women on Trump’s behalf, Avenatti contributed to the spectacle by bringing Daniels to the federal courthouse.

The relationship between the two fell apart after Daniels said she learned that Avenatti had taken a share of her US$800,000 book deal for himself.

Avenatti insisted he was innocent of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

After opening statements and two trial witnesses, he shed his lawyers and confronted witnesses himself, setting up his questioning of Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford.

Avenatti asked her about things she had said for a potential programme called Spooky Babes about living in a haunted house in New Orleans.

Among other things, Daniels had talked about an invisible assailant attacking her partner and communicating with dead people and with a doll who calls her “mummy.”

Prosecutors argued that Avenatti was trying to portray Daniels as crazy – what they called a “blame the victim” defence that failed to support his claim he was owed the money after spending millions of dollars representing Daniels.

“Whether you think it’s kooky to believe in the paranormal, whether you think it’s weird. She can believe whatever she wants and still be stolen from by the defendant and still deserve not to,” Assistant US Attorney Mathew Podolsky told the jury.

Lawyer Michael Avenatti arrives at federal court in New York on February 3.


Text messages, prosecutors said, showed that Avenatti repeatedly lied to Daniels in 2018 when she pressed him on when she would get a large instalment she was owed on the book deal. They said he had already spent the money on airfare, food and payroll for his debt-ridden law firm.

Podolsky likened Avenatti to a store cashier taking US$1,000 out of a till because he believed he had worked really hard and deserved a bonus.

Avenatti argued at the conclusion of the two-week trial that the government failed to prove its case.

“I’m Italian. I like Italian food. Ladies and gentlemen, the case that the government is trying to feed you has a giant cockroach in the middle of the plate,” he told the jury. “Would you eat that dish or would you send it back? I submit that you would send it back.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
×