Once a favorite of CNN, MSNBC and the liberal press in their relentless attacks on 73-year-old President Doanld Trump, 48-year-old Attorney Michael Avenatti was convicted in federal Court in New York of trying extort Nike Inc. Avenatti rocketed to instant liberal fame representing Trump’s alleged 40-year-old mistress Stormy Daniels, where Democrats thought they had a smoking gun to knock Trump out of the 2016 presidential race. Trump survived the hubbub but CNN, MSNBC and all other liberal networks exploited Avenatti as means to get rid of Trump. Embraced as a potential Democrat candidate by CNN for his tough talk against Trump, Avenatti now finds himself with a 40-year sentence when U.S. District Court Judge Paul G. Gardephe sentences him July 17. Avenatti’s fall from grace speaks volumes about the supercharged political atmosphere in today’s media.
Embracing Avenatti showed that the 24/7 cable networks looked for anyone to bolster their case against Trump even if they were half-crazed attorney seeking publicity at any cost. For even the most naïve observers, Avenatti was an unhinged mental case using the anti-Trump media to gain fame but not fortune. His fortune was made off the trust accounts of his clients, where he dipped into settlements like his own piggy bank. Stormy found out the hard way what happens when you make a Faustian bargain with low-lifes like Avenatti to get back at Trump. “Today a unanimous jury found Michael Avenatti guilty of misusing his client’s information in an effort to extort tens of millions of dollars form the athletic apparel company Nike,” U.S. Atty. Geoffrey Berman said today. Avenatti thought he could out-smart a federal jury, claiming he never tried to blackmail Nike for cash.
Jurors didn’t buy Avenatti’s story because the once silver-tongued ambulance-chasing attorney refused to testify in his own defense. While that’s certainly a defendant’s right but he clearly didn’t want to face cross-examination. “While the defendant may have tried to hide behind legal terms and a suit and tie, the jury clearly saw the defendant’s scheme for what it was—an old fashioned shakedown,” said Berman. Avenatti plans to appeal the verdict but unless U.S. attorneys engaged in egregious misconduct, the once star of CNN favorite is like to spend his mid-age crisis in federal prison. Avenatti’s attorney Scott Srebnick tried to convince the jury that Avenatti asked Nike for cash to conduct and investigation on behalf of his client basketball coach Gary Franklin. Prosecutors exposed Avenatti’s financial problems, giving a logical motive for his extortion plot.
Avenatti crisscrossed the country on first class jets, staying in luxury hotels, wining-and-dining like the rich-and-famous, while he dazzled various CNN hosts, especially Brian Stelter who talked with Avenatti about taking on Trump in the 2020 election. CNN’s producers knew of well-publicized complaints by Avenatti’s clients accusing his of stealing millions from settlements, including Stormy Daniels. When Avenatti ran out of cash from his petty legal case, he hatched the extortion plot, demanding Nike pay him $25 million or face public exposure of the company’s attempts to pay off families of AAU basketball families. When jurors heard of Avenatti’s $11 million debt, the extortion plot made perfect sense. Avenatti got Franklin to testify that he was ordered by Nike employees Carlton DeBose and Jamal James to pay families of amateur basketball players.
Other than his legal arguments, Avenatti’s attorney Scott Srebnick produced no compelling evidence to support that Nike engaged in illegal payments to amateur athletes. Avenatti’s legal woes won’t stop when Berman sentences him on June 17. Stormy Daniels claims that Avenatti stole her $300,000 book advance for a tell-all book on her alleged one-night stand with Trump in 2012. Beyond that, Aventatti faces a host of criminal complaints for stealing millions from other clients before getting snared in his grandiose scheme to blackmail Nike. “I am not surprised his dishonesty has been revealed on a grand scale,” Stormy said after learning of Avenatti’s conviction. Extorting money from hapless clients was Avenatti’s MO, until he piled up debts and ran out of cash, becoming desperate for a new gig. Teaming up with Franklin, Avenatti thought he was ready for the big time.
All of Avenatti’s shenanigans were known to CNN, MSNBC and other anti-Trump media outlets, looking for any way to besmirch the president. Using Avenatti as a pundit for over 100 appearances to discredit Trump shows the egregious bias by the left wing networks desperate to hear anything negative about Trump. Avenatti’s presence in the media’s campaign to oust Trump from office or destroy his reelection bid in 2020 shows the extremes they’ll go to attack the president. Tossing responsible journalism under the bus, Avenatti’s conviction exposes for all viewers the highly corrupt anti-Trump media. That’s the same media embraced Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Ut.) for voting to convict Trump on abuse of power. Democrats and the media know that Romney’s held extreme prejudice against Trump since the 2016 campaign since calling him a “con man and a fake,” before Trump won the GOP nomination.
