Michael Avenatti has just been hit with even more federal charges.
Prosecutors with the Southern District of New York on Wednesday announced that Avenatti has been indicted on fraud and aggravated identity theft charges related to his time representing Stormy Daniels, the porn star who claims she had an affair with President Trump in 2006.
Avenatti is accused of using a fraudulent document "purporting to bear his client's name and signature" to convince her literary agent to divert money she was owed to his own account. He then allegedly used this money for "personal and business purposes." Although Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is not mentioned by name in the indictment, ABC and NBC both report she is the client prosecutors are referring to.
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“Michael Avenatti abused and violated the core duty of an attorney – the duty to his client," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said on Wednesday, going on to say Avenatti "blatantly lied to and stole from his client to maintain his extravagant lifestyle."
Prosecutors also said that Avenatti falsely told his client that her publisher was refusing to pay her, even though he had himself received the money. Avenatti has denied the charges, saying in a statement to ABC News, "No monies relating to Ms. Daniels were ever misappropriated or mishandled."
Avenatti has also now been officially indicted with previously-announced charges over an alleged attempt to extort millions of dollars from Nike. This comes after he had additionally been hit with charges from the Central District of California over alleged wire and bank-fraud in a separate case, with prosecutors accusing him of stealing millions of dollars from clients and using it for his own expenses; with these charges, he was already looking at a potential prison sentence of up to 335 years.
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