Thread by @meghanncuniff

Good morning from Santa Ana, California, where Michael Avenatti is to be sentenced for stealing millions of dollars from clients. Judge James Selna takes the bench at 9 a.m. Prosecutors are asking for nearly 18 years. Follow this thread for live updates from the courtroom. 🧵

Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! All persons interested in the sentencing of Michael John Avenatti before the Honorable James V. Selna are admonished to draw near and give their attention to this thread, for the Court will sit at 0900. God save the United States and this Honorable Court.

As my new @LawCrimeNews article explains, it has been a long time coming. I laid out the recommendations and got into the weeds on the recommended enhancements, which include obstruction of justice for a tweet Avenatti sent in April 2019. bit.ly/3unNVJA

I caught AUSA Ranee Katzenstein walking in a few minutes ago. She’s the chief of @USAO_LosAngeles’ Major Frauds Section and is based in Los Angeles. She joined the case after the mistrial and AUSA Alex Wyman’s departure for @LathamWatkins. AUSA Brett Sagel is based in Santa Ana.

As for the judge, I was able to get a photo of Senior U.S. District Judge James V. Selna when I crashed the @Kirkland_Ellis table at OC @federalbar’s annual judges’ dinner in October. The chief judge remarked that night that JVS still has a full caseload despite senior status.

Right now it's a quiet scene in JVS' courtroom. It's me and two other journalists and (one is @finneganLAT, one of the original Avenatti reporters and the reporter on the article that prompted the tweet that prosecutors want an obstruction of justice sentencing enhancement for.)

There is no six-person communications office here like @LASuperiorCourt, but things have a way of managing themselves through the direction of the court clerk. Back rows reserved for media with an overflow courtroom set up downstairs. (There is plenty of room in here.)

No badges required to sit in courtroom, and electronics are fully allowed, including of course live tweeting. Audio and video recording still are strictly prohibited, and so is photography, and even with all these people and their phones, those rules are rarely if ever violated.

Avenatti's client victims are starting to come in. Geoff Johnson just arrived in his electric wheelchair. Long Tran is sitting in the gallery with someone who appears to be self-made international cosmetics magnate @MichellePhan, from whom Avenatti stole $4 million.

One of the rows is marked with a sign that says "reserved for government," but the clerk refreshingly told someone they can't just expect to reserve spots for 20 people. "You don’t get to hold a whole row for them. That's not how it works. Tell them they need to come up here."

Avenatti's victimization of Michelle Phan reminds me of how a lot of media outlets describe Avenatti as a "celebrity lawyer," even though it's not true. The only arguable celebrity he represented was Stormy, and also maybe Phan, but Phan was in 2018 amid Avenatti's media tour.

Phan's friend Long Tran hired Avenatti amid his cable TV news blitz in 2018, after seeing him on TV and liking what he saw. (It's safe to say Tran is not a Trump supporter). Phan's victimization is a great example of the role Avenatti's national TV attention played in his fraud.

The gallery is starting to fill. AUSA Brett Sagel has arrived, along with U.S. Treasury agent Remoun Karlous and IRS agent James Kim. Former AUSA Alex Wyman, who did the trial in 2021 with Sagel, is here to watch.

I first met Avenatti long before he was all over cable TV in 2018 representing @StormyDaniels: It was after there was a $456 million jury verdict in LA and I was assigned to call the winning attorneys and write an article for @LADailyJournal. The winning attorney was Avenatti.

Then a few months into his TV blitz I got another Avenatti-related @LADailyJournal assignment: A bankruptcy judge had issued a restraining order blocking his firm from spending any fees it collected from its cases, including Stormy's.

I started looking into the case and was shocked at the absolute rabbit hole of financial improprieties, complete with an apparently fraudulent bankruptcy Avenatti orchestrated in Florida through a felon named Gerald Tobin. I was hooked.

I started following everything, going to a memorable @LASuperiorCourt judgment debtor exam and another in U.S. District Court, tracking every bankruptcy hearing. For a while after his March 2019 arrest, covering him for @LADailyJournal was a full-time job.

I basically started live tweeting his trial in 2021 by accident. Then there was that time I flew to New York City in the dead of winter and stayed there for 2 1/2 weeks (my second visit ever in my life to the Big Apple), covering Avenatti’s trial for stealing from @StormyDaniels.

The NYC media swarm for Avenatti during the Stormy trial was crazy for me to see after covering him in California to little fanfare. I hope all these people enjoy their trip to the Golden State for this much more important sentencing in a much more significant case! 😉

Courtroom is packing out now. Jason Frank and Andrew Stolper, Avenatti's law partners turned archenemies, just walked in. Avenatti's counsel Dean Steward and Courtney Cummings have arrived at the defense table. No Avenatti yet.

Door opens and a U.S. Marshal walks in, chains are heard and then Avenatti walks in wearing tan jail garb with a long-sleeved grayish shirt underneath. He has his head held high and smiles at two people in the gallery. He's looking around the courtroom seeing who's here.

Avenatti is at sitting at the defense table with Steward and Cummings and one of his paralegals. Sagel and Katzenstein are at the prosecution table and the case agents are in the front row. Geoff Johnson is next to them in his wheelchair.

Clerk walked into the courtroom: "ETA?"
Sagel: "Now?"

The courtroom buzz is building amid the whispers. While I’ll be disappointed if I miss the end of the Harvey Weinstein trial today (doubtful but you never know), being here instead of in Los Angeles is probably the easiest decision I’ll ever make in my life.

Clerk: "Mr. Avenatti, you good? Alright, let's go."

Judge Selna's law clerks have arrived in the courtroom. Soon the clerk will yell, "Please rise and face the flag" and begin this pretty epic courtroom opening as Judge Selna takes the bench. Hasn't happened yet but soon.

"All rise and face the flag. In the presence of the flag emblematic of our constitution and remembering the principles for which it stands, this United States District Court is now in session. The Honorable James V. Selna presiding."

Here we go. Sagel does the introductions for the government. He also introduces Avenatti's client victims, Geoff Johnson, Alexis Gardner, @MichellePhan and Long Tran. Greg Barela is not here, Sagel says he lives out of state and it would be a financial burden to travel here.

Avenatti introduces his team. Five people in the gallery here to support him. A former client named Frank (couldn't get his last name but I think it's in the memos), his first ex-wife Christine Avenatti Carlin. His friend Jay Manheimer is here, as is Rick Kraemer.

Brett Sagel is at the lectern now. "Let me start with the guideline calculation range." There is apparently a tentative from Selna that I have not seen. Sagel said Selna's guideline range gets him to offense level of 37 and criminal history category III. This is big win for USA.

As my story linked above explains, probation is recommending criminal history category II. But Judge Selna's tentative is criminal history category III. What is the guideline range for that?

"I know what my tentative thought is and that's 168 months," Selna says.

Sagel mentions the tweet "about Ms. Gardner and her ex." That was written in April 2019 after this article by @finneganLAT. Apparently Selna's tentative agrees with the obstruction of justice enhancement. bit.ly/3EVHqmc

Selna's tentative apparently gives Avenatti credit for acceptance of responsibility, which prosecutors disagree with. Sagel says acceptance as to do with "whether he actually as remorse. Whether there is an actual remorse."

Sagel mentions the “malevolence” of Avenatti’s actions being magnified by the fact that “he didn’t need to do what he did in this case.” He didn’t commit his crimes out of financial desperation. "Despite the significant advantage that the defendant has..."

...despite the significant advantages that his defendant has - a first-rate education, a thriving legal career - he chose to commit the deplorable acts in this case, time and time again and over years." And Avenatti's crimes were "not a one time thing."

AUSA Sagel: “He stole from his clients.” He names the clients. “So he could live an extravagant lifestyle.”
“The defendant has always been and always will be out for himself,” Sagel says of Avenatti.
Sagel details Avenatti's theft of money from each client.

Sagel says Avenatti is always “confident he can beat the system. Confident he can bamboozle his way out of anything.” Confident “he’s the smartest guy in the room.”

Sagel calls Avenatti “the ultimate revisionist of history.”

Sagel says “it’s been 3 1/2 years since just the charges were filed in this case.” He mentions the “severity and just evil of his crimes” and mentions how Avenatti was representing Geoff Johnson for the very reason Johnson became paralyzed.

“Defendant has blamed everyone except for himself,” Sagel says of Avenatti. “He made baseless accusations against everybody.” Witnesses, lawyers, “countless misconduct claims.”

“Claiming his case was the result of the former president, the former law partner of his, that the government purposely hid evidence of him," Sagel says of Avenatti.

“Even in his sentencing papers,” Sagel says, Avenatti blames government vindictiveness, the probation officer for being unjust. “He wants to spent hundreds of pages” focusing on other people’s sentences.

Sagel says the focus is not on other sentences but on Avenatti. Judge Selna, however, interjected, “Not exclusively.”

"He wants to focus the attention on anywhere and everybody but himself. Today the focus is where it belongs: on him and his criminal conduct," Sagel says of Avenatti.

Sagel says Avenatti’s victims can describe their emotional damage much better than he, but he said "that emotional damage is not really accounted for in the guidelines through the loss and abuse of trust." "Those enhancements only generally touch on what he did."

Although Avenatti paid money to Johnson and Gardner "the facts show" that it wasn’t him "take care of his clients or doing a good thing…nothing that should support any leniency."
"He'll steal form anywhere. He'll take any money he wants for himself," Sagel says.

Although Avenatti paid money to Johnson and Gardner "the facts show" that it wasn’t him "take care of his clients or doing a good thing…nothing that should support any leniency."
"He'll steal form anywhere. He'll take any money he wants for himself," Sagel says.

“He wreaked havoc on so many lives,” Sagel says of Avenatti. Including others “who’ve been having to pay for his criminal conduct. “His crime wasn’t a one stop shop. Not take the money and run,” Sagel says.

Sagel on Avenatti: “Defendant isn’t a fighter. He’s just a simple fraudster. He doesn’t fight for anyone but himself. Geoffrey Johnson, Alexis Gardner, Gregory Barela, @MichellePhan were the little guys. He didn’t fight for them.”

“We know what the most important thing to him is. It’s himself,” Sagel tells Judge Selna about Avenatti.

Avenatti is listening intently to Sagel, taking notes and sometimes conversing with Courtney Cummings. Dean Steward is next to them but not engaging in their discussions.

Sagel references Avenatti’s support but notes to Judge Selna that, after “a 20-year legal career, not a single colleague” of Avenatti’s time at O’Melveny or Brian Panish’s firm or his own firm have written anything in support of them.

Sagel says Judge Selna can see what Avenatti's 20-year career amounted to, and it's "probably not even remotely close to what he wants to describe it as."
"It wasn't an outstanding, ethical career," Sagel said.

Sagel discusses Avenatti’s request that Judge Selna credit him for acceptance of responsibility. He mentions a lack of remorse, but Selna says, “Does he have to have remorse in order to meet acceptance of responsibility?”

Here is something I suspected Selna might do and I’m pretty sure prosecutors were hoping for. He’s asking why they want to give Avenatti a break from the calculated starting range of 324 months. “What causes the government to move from 324 to 210?”

An earlier Sagel line on Avenatti: "If integrity is said to be defined by doing what is right when nobody is looking, when the defendant though nobody was looking, he went out of his way to make sure nobody could look."

"His lack of integrity when exposed was shocking and disturbing," Sagel says of Avenatti.

Despite his legal background, "In the end, the defendant is just another criminal that thinks the law is something that applies that applies to other people."

Sagel told Judge Selna he's talking about lack of remorse not in terms of acceptance of responsibility but in terms of "3553" which is this. govinfo.gov/content/pkg/US…

Sagel also explained the downward departure from the guidelines as being driven by the nature of the crime, totality of circumstances etc. But something tells me @USAO_LosAngeles isn't going to be too upset of Judge Selna goes ABOVE 210 months.

Sagel asked if Judge Selna wanted to hear from the victims now, but he said we'll do that after Avenatti states his sentencing position. The judge called a 10-minute break a few minutes ago.

Unlike most sentencings where the defendant is represented by counsel, Avenatti will be making his own argument for sentencing as his own lawyer. Then he'll get a chance to address the court as the defendant.

Break is already over and Avenatti is at the lectern. He's wearing a tan shirt, tucked into tan pants with a tan belt. He says he wants to start with a response to what Sagel said, then he'll get into his argument and objections. He also wants to address Selna before sentencing.

Avenatti starts by saying he wants to focus on his client victims. "I want to again apologize to each of them. I stand by the entirety of my written letter to them, which is in the record. I wrote it. I meant everything I put in the letter."

Avenatti says his apology letter to his victims "was sincere and it was true and it was heartfelt."
"Your honor, at no time did I set out to bilk my clients," Avenatti tells Judge Selna.

"For all of this your honor, I am deeply remorseful and contrite," Avenatti said. "There is not doubt that all of them deserved much better, and I hope that some day they will accept my apologies and find it in their heart to forgive me."

"I'm going to save my other comments from my allocution when your honor provides me the opportunity," Avenatti says.

Avenatti discussed how there should be an evidentiary hearing over the total loss amount, but Judge Selna drops his trademark "sir" and asks, "What is it that you can add in an evidentiary hearing that you didn't add in your original motion for an evidentiary hearing?"

Judge Selna says the motion "has rather extended" appendixes and calculations. Avenatti says government contests much of it, says his info isn't true. But Selna doesn't seem to be buying it.
(Avenatti is speaking slowly, which is nice for notetakers.)

Avenatti actually said something to Judge Selna about how the total loss amount should be consider zero. $0! Selna is skeptical: "Don't your very charts...refute the notion that the loss could be zero?"
Avenatti starts saying something about another filing...

Selna interjects. "Sir, do your own charts contradict the proposition that the loss is zero?"
Avenatti: "Yes -"
Selna interjects: "OK."
Avenatti: "But I don't think I've been clear in my point to your honor."
"I think you've made at least some record why it shouldn't be zero."

Selna cites Michelle Phan as an example. She's flat out owed $4 million. No fees or costs involved. Avenatti says the costs for other clients haven't been considered but admits "the exception of Ms. Phan."

Avenatti mentions quantum meruit, which should bring back memories/nightmares for anyone who watched the Stormy trial. Also mentions "other work" he did for Phan but says Selna has rejected that argument in his tentative ruling.

Avenatti talks about costs and fees for the clients he victimized. "I have not been provided a credit for any of those items."
"I understand the court's tentative related to California law. I don't believe that applies in this context," he says.

Judge Selna asks regarding Phan's $4 million: "Why should you be credited with other work outside the scope of that particular engagement?"
"Basically, you're asking for me to give you judgment on all this extra work. Isn't that the net of your position?" the judge asks Avenatti

Avenatti: "This is not my burden. This is the government's burden."
Selna: "Don't you have the burden to prove offsets?"
Avenatti: "No...it's the government's burden under a clear and convincing standard to come before the court and present a loss calculation that is accurate."

“They have steadfastly refused to provide any discount to the loss amount for anything,” Avenatti said. “Against, it is their burden.”

Re: criminal history. Judge Selna says right off the bat that isn't he supposed to "take into account your danger to the community?"
Avenatti shows why maybe representing yourself when you don't have criminal law experience isn't a good idea.
"Your honor, I don't know."

Avenatti: "Your honor, I don't know frankly whether that's true or not. I just, I don't know," Avenatti says.
Selna: "Is that a major factor in assessing whether criminal history is too low or too high? What the danger to the community is? :
Avenatti: "Your honor, I don't know."

Selna says something that underscores why he is a champion of open courts. "My view is the public has a right to know on what basis I'm imposing a sentence, particularly when that sentence is substantially below what the...guideline is."
Avenatti: "Understood, your honor."

Selna: That's a protection for the defense. That's why we have open courts."
They discuss other cases and Avenatti says he shouldn't be punished based on them, involving lawyers "almost all of whom I've never met."

Avenatti mentions Tom Girardi by name, underscoring that even after all this widespread fraud, Avenatti will never even be able to claim to be the most fraudulent Italian-American plaintiff's lawyer in California.

Significantly, Judge Selna was QUITE skeptical of Avenatti's argument that he shouldn't consider other fraudulent lawyers when sentencing Avenatti.
"If a particular problem is rampant in the community, and it's obvious to many, why can't I take judicial notice of that fact?"

Avenatti has also mentioned the comments from ex-SDNY U.S. Attorney Geoff Berman in his book about the "turf war" between SDNY and @USAO_LosAngeles over the Avenatti prosecutions, which I detail in this @LawCrimeNews article: bit.ly/3Mq0ah5

Selna asks wasn't the Nike case an extortion case. Avenatti says prosecutors made his conduct with client Gary Franklin central to the case. He's telling Selna his sentence here should be concurrent and not consecutive to the NY sentences. He says it's required.

Prosecutors have mentioned in their papers though that one of his NY convictions is aggravated ID theft, which mandates a separate two-year sentence. Can Judge Selna legally order a separate sentence to be served the same time as that? Sagel and Katzenstein say no.

Avenatti says Sagel "made a number of comments minimizing the amount of money that was advanced or paid to the clients prior to the settlement funds being received." He's addressing Geoff Johnson now. Johnson hired him in November 2011, settlement was in 2015.

"For the better part of three years your honor," he advanced costs for Johnson such as money for bail, a criminal defense attorney, living expenses. Avenatti says it was $37K a month for a while. "This was not some small amount of money over a very finite period of time."

"I advanced a lot of money to Mr. Johnson and for his benefit," Avenatti says. "I'm not suggesting, your honor, that this somehow excuses my conduct in ultimately taken the portion of money in which he was entitled to. That's not the purpose of me making the statement."

Avenatti disputes what Sagel said about no judges or law partners or opposing counsel writing letters. Points to client letter and support from Rick Kraemer who is in the legal community. He also says some supporters don't want their name out there because case is high profile.

"In a high-profile matter that received a lot of media attention, a lot of individuals just don't want to write letters because they don't want their name in the press, they don't want their name in tweets, and they just don't want the added attention," Avenatti says.

"A number of people expressed that to me as well as my advisory counsel and others who were helping me ask for letters," Avenatti says.

Avenatti is telling Selna he needs info on third-party payments to the clients he victimized before restitution can be set.
"That is suspicious to me, your honor, because I believe Mr. Barela has received money from third parties," Avenatti says.

Avenatti says he's entitled to know of third-party payments to his victims and reminds us he only learned that his ex-partner Michael Eagan paid Johnson $1.5 million "because I asked Mr. Johnson a question during the trial related to that."

"It's the government's obligations to prove restitution." No response to his letter from weeks ago. "I was believed Iw was entitled to that amount of information before restitution was arrived at, your honor." Here are the messages. bit.ly/3iCfFYt

Avenatti just said he left out some stuff that he shouldn't have when he had to revise his sentencing memorandum to get under 50 pages, so he's going over that now. He's talking about the two restitution orders he already has.

He says if there's an order here that he has to pay 100 percent of his income to the victims, "I can't pay any money to Nike or Ms. Daniels." But he's also saying he wants the four victims here to be paid before Nike or Stormy.

Reminder, all the sentencing briefs and the various positions are linked and outlined in this @LawCrimeNews article: bit.ly/3unNVJA

Avenatti has more to say about restitution and the back taxes he owes the IRS, saying something about “almost like a debtor’s prison, your honor.”
‘Obviously, your honor, I’m not in a position to pay monies for back taxes,” Avenatti says.

“It would basically set me up for failure in that regard. It almost predetermines I’m going to violate probation because I don't have the money to pay taxes,” Avenatti says.

Judge Selna allowed Avenatti to consult with his standby counsel. He spends a few moments talking with Courtney Cummings and Dean Steward. Back at lectern: He's bringing up consecutive v. concurrent sentences. Reminds us probation initially recommended 151 but revised to 180.

This is the sentencing table we're working with here. Offense level for Avenatti right now is at 37, with a criminal history category of III. Ouch.

Sagel is back at the lectern. Judge Selna asks how he should consider the $1.5 million Michael Eagan paid Geoff Johnson.
Sagel says Johnson gets paid what he owes, anything extra goes to Eagan. (I got a little confused there, but there's more explanation coming.)

It sounds like Judge Selna is going to order restitution for Johnson, and also order Avenatti to pay restitution to Eagan to cover what he paid Johnson (it was a settlement in a lawsuit).

Judge Selna again says something very not good for Avenatti, questioning Sagel about why the reasons for the downward departure from the guideline range.
"I think the public's entitled to know why I did that," Selna says.
"And I'm not disputing that at all," Sagel replies.

Sagel is talking about the need for general deterrence for other lawyers, remarks that lawyer frauds "are very difficult to investigate and prosecute because of attorney-client privilege" that protects the information.

To clarify this tweet, Avenatti never worked at Brian Panish's firm, but he worked at the same firm as Avenatti, Greene Broillet and Wheeler.

https://twitter.com/meghanncuniff/status/1599823890674757632?s=20&t=nzkJ7v82k9muxT394AYFag

"I don't have @Nike in front of me. I don't have Ms. Daniels in front of me."
For some reason that quote from Judge Selna randomly reminds me of that time Judge Furman told Avenatti during the Stormy trial, "Ms. Daniels will not be instructing the jury."

We are on a 10-minute break. Avenatti's clients turned victims will speak next, then Avenatti.

Break is already over. Judge Selna is back on the bench. "Alright, we'll hear from the victims at this time. Do we have our portable mic?"
Sagel has it.
"Mr. Johnson, do you want to lead off?" Selna asks.

Johnson has the mic.
"I am one of the victims of Michael Avenatti," he begins.

"Being here before the court and facing Michael Avenatti in person is hard for me. I'm a pretty private person and I hope the court understands that I'm nervous," Johnson said. He said he's "particularly nervous" because Avenatti "personally cross-examined me" in trial...

Johnson said Avenatti was "insulting and abusive" during his cross-examination, and it almost made him not want to come to court today.
"Seeing Michael again is something I really didn't want to do," Johnson says.

Johnson said Avenatti’s fraud is “the worst thing that ever happened to me.”
“I trusted Michael with all my heart,” Johnson said. He started to tear up as he said it’s still difficult for him to accept that Avenatti “really did steal all my money from me.”

Avenatti has his hands folded on the table in front of him and he's looking down at the table with a solemn look on his face.
“After realizing what Michael has done for me, I’m not sure I can ever trust anyone again,” Johnson said.

“It’s impossible for me to understand how someone as talented as Michael could do what he did,” Johnson said.
“Michael Avenatti really broke me.” He wants other attorneys to be detered from “doing anything remotely like what he did to me.”

“I respectfully request the court sentence Michael Avenatti as recommended by the government. I sincerely thank the court for its consideration,” Johnson says.

Alexis Gardner went to the lectern after Johnson finished. She says she feels “my lack of education was taken advantage of” as well as her lack of resources and her “perspective of life in seeking to thrive.” She had faith in Avenatti’s words “that he was honorable.”

She said something similar to what Johnson said, that’s it’s so hard for her to believe she went from hiring Avenatti to standing in court today “in his current attire.”

She talked about Avenatti’s persona as David v. Goliath. “He was the Goliath,” Gardner said. “He was the person that was stepping on all of the small people that were innocent. That were hurt…that were disabled.”

Avenatti is up now.
“You honor, I am deeply sorry and remorseful for my criminal conduct. I caused harm and damage to four individuals who relied on me, who needed me and were not only my clients, but my friends.”

“I cared about them, helped them and fiercely advocated for them. Yet inexplicably, I later took from them. I will not stand here and attempt to offer any excuses for my conduct because there are none,” Avenatti tells Judge Selna.

"My conduct has brought shame upon my family, my friends and my profession - a profession I have loved and valued for decades," Avenatti says.

"I will never have the privilege of appearing of appearing as an advocate in a courtroom like this before a judge like your honor. I threw that privilege away and my career away, your honor," Avenatti tells Judge Selna.

“For all of this there is no doubt that I deserve punishment and to lose my freedom,” Avenatti says. He says as he sits in prison, “my lesson has been costly but well deserved.” His voice cracks as he says he wants a chance to be “father to my daughters” and his 8-year-old son.

More to say from Avenatti, but Selna is up now. He says Avenatti has done many notable and good things, “but he has also done great evil for which he must answer.” He’s “shown an abandonment of some of the most basic principles of fairness.”

Judge Selna mentions Avenatti’s education and opportunities at law firms.

Then this was dramatic: “It is now time to pay his debts to the victims, the government and society. Sir, if you rise, I’ll sentence you,” Judge Selna says.

Avenatti stands up.

Judge Selna goes over the restitution orders first, and it sounds like they match what prosecutors asked for for each victim. Avenatti is standing and so are his standby counsel Courtney Cummings and Dean Steward.

Judge Selna sentences Avenatti to prison "for a term of 168 months."

That's for the four wire fraud counts, and it includes 36 months for the IRS obstruction charge. This is pretty close to what @USAO_LosAngeles prosecutors wanted.

This is big: Judge Selna says Avenatti's 168-month sentence (14 years) is to run consecutive with his New York sentences. A major, major win for prosecutors.

Avenatti was led out by a marshal a moment ago. He appeared to be in good spirits.

His final words before he left the courtroom were to Dean Steward, the lawyer he ditched during jury selection to represent himself: “Hey Dean. Be boisterous.”

Geoff Johnson speaks outside court. He’s happy with the sentence.

AUSA Brett Sagel explains Avenatti’s restitution.

Here’s @usao_losangeles’ news release. justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/l…

Closing scene. New Central District USA Martin Estrada spoke for about five minutes; I will upload the video when I’m back at the ranch. Check out my initial story at @LawCrimeNews and stay tuned for a full write through.

As my @LawCrimeNews article explains, after imposing the 14-year sentence, Judge Selna dropped Avenatti’s remaining charges at the request of prosecutors. So this case is officially closed at the trial level. (Avenatti can appeal.) bit.ly/3HcPpOt

Newly minted Central District @USAO_LosAngeles U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada on Michael Avenatti’s sentencing. “He’s been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for committing one of the worst crimes a lawyer can commit: victimizing his own clients.”

Part 2 of Estrada.

I'm working on a big write through for @LawCrimeNews, but for now: the federal officials and the court staff and others today really seemed struck by Alexis Gardner's speech. Among many other memorable lines, she called Avenatti, "A psychotic conman who fights only for himself."

Here's today's thread all in one place. 🧵 threadreaderapp.com/thread/1599856…

Judge Selna was straight forward. Avenatti asked for another chance at life and said 14 years or more won't give him one.
Avenatti, voice cracking: "I plead for the mercy of the court, your honor."
Selna: "Thank you."
Within a few minutes, he sentenced Avenatti to 14 years.

To be clear, Avenatti's 14-year prison sentence imposed today by Judge Selna will begin AFTER his current New York sentences end, which right now is scheduled for Jan. 27, 2026. That gives him an ultimate release date of 2040, when he's about 70.

Courtroom sketches from Avenatti’s sentencing by the great Mona Shafer Edwards. Check out her Instagram: instagram.com/p/ClzhKWmPTH1/…

One thing about live tweeting sentencing hearings v. testimony exams is hearings go a lot faster so you can get very backed up. That means the final article is brimming with details not in the tweets. Must read @LawCrimeNews update: bit.ly/3HcPpOt

As article explains, Judge Selna is going to issue a final ruling detailing his reasons for the 168-month sentence. The tentative is not public and was not fully detailed in court today. There is a lot to say about this sentencing, so the filing will be a good chance to revisit.

The former top @USAO_LosAngeles prosecutor who announced Avenatti’s California case comments via Linkedin.
“When I announced the charges against Michael Avenatti in 2019, I said “It’s Lawyer 101; you do not steal your clients’ money.” Today’s sentence hammers that lesson home.”