Disgraced and disbarred 56-year-old former Atty. Michael Avenatti was sentenced today in Los Angeles federal court for defrauding millions from his clients, using the cash for his jetsetter lifestyle. Avenatti was exploited by the mainstream media to go after former President Donald Trump, representing “Stormy Daniels” in her tell-all book deal and lawsuit against the former president. Avenatti was so manic in his media exposure he offered on daily-and-nightly TV news shows his scathing attacks on Trump, winning him instant media success. Avenatti was regular of CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC and other anti-Trump news networks looking, in 2018, for anything to discredit the former president or get him removed from office. Avenatti was so delirious in 2018 he suggested he’s run in 2020 against Trump for president. All the accredited press sources didn’t care whether Avenatti was a total fraud and huckster.
No matter what the chatter about Avenatti defrauding his clients, the mainstream press put him on the air because of their hatred of Trump. Nothing mattered other than giving air-time to anyone willing to denounce the former president. Avenatti was already convicted in New York for extorting Nike Inc. for $25 millions and stealing from Stormy Daniel’s trust account. Avenatti’s sentences run consecutively with his five years sentence from a New York federal ourt. All cable and TV networks where Avenatti appeared knew about his mounting legal problems but used him anyway to attack Trump on national TV. Avenatti exposed the U.S. press for its extraordinary bias against Trump, serving to define fake news. Network TV news shows used Avenatti as much as cable news looking for headlines. Once Avenatti was dragged into federal court, the cable and TV networks dropped him like a hot potato.
Avenatti was a cavalier as it gets stealing his clients’ trust fund cash to subsidize his extravagant lifestyle. No media group, broadcast or print, has apologized to the public for using the disbarred lawyer as pundit all because he liked attacking Trump on cable and network TV. Like the endless reports-and-stories about Trump’s ties to Moscow, no broadcast or print outlet has apologized for the years of fake news, all done to discredit Trump to the public. “Mr. Avenatti received money on behalf of clients into clients trust accounts, misappropriated the money and lied to the clients about receiving the money,” said U.S. Atty. Nick Hanna in 2019. Avenatti stole millions of dollars from his clients after receiving settlements yet lied to his clients about the reasons for not disbursing the funds. Avenatti used his clients funds to support his jetsetter lifestyle all backed by his new life as media personality.
Avenatti during his heyday on cable and network news, provided titillating gossip about Stormy Daniels alleged affair with Trump, all designed to show, before the 2016 election, Trump’s 56-year-old former personal attorney Michael Cohen. Cohen, who was convicted of fraud, income tax evasion, wire and bank fraud, among other things, was another cable and network news favorite. Even after Cohen did his time in federal prison, he returned as a frequent anti-Trump pundit, despite serving as Trump’s personal attorney for many years. Like Avenatti, Cohen grabs the headlines whenever he can, despite having zero credibility because of his obvious ax to grind. Avenatti and Cohen speak volumes about the abysmal state of today’s U.S. press, more consumed with ratings and headlines over anything factual. Media executives routinely opt for ratings over anything with credibility.
Report about Avenatti stealing the whole $4 million settlement in 2015 from his paraplegic client in Los Angeles was especially egregious to the federal court judge, sentencing him to 14 years. Avenatti never gave his client Geoffrey Johnson one penny of his own settlement. While using Jonhson’s settlement, Aventatti gave his client money for rent while he spent his $4 million settlement like a drunken sailor. “Mr. Johnson is the victim of an appalling fraud perpetrated by the one person who owed him loyalty and honesty most of all, his own attorney,” said Johnson’s attorney Josh Robbins. What astounds more people following the Aventatti saga is how the media overlooked any of the mounting evidence that Avenatti was a dangerous con artist, showing no mercy to his clients while flitting around the country to whatever cable and network TV should would have him on air.
Avenatti’s story reveals the ugly side of today’s media where fake stories advance political agendas at the expense of real news. All the years of fake stories from the press about Trump’s alleged ties to the Kremlin all proved part of a political agenda to get Trump removed from office. When it comes to Avenatti, it shows the blinding ambition of today’s news sources to advance an anti-Trump political agenda. Listening to Avenatti, a known con artist, slam Trump on cable and network TV showed that today’s media sourcing doesn’t exist. Getting 14 years today is a small fraction of the many crimes committed by Avenatti while he appeared before the cameras on cable and network news. What does the media have to say for itself for all the years of fraud? CNN didn’t cover the Avenatti sentencing today because they have no one to blame but themselves for promoting a con artist on national TV.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’e editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
