Incarcerated lawyer Michael Avenatti was sentenced to a 14-year prison term on Monday for defrauding former clients out of millions of dollars and trying to stop the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from taking payroll taxes from a coffee shop he owned.
In the California case, Avenatti defrauded four clients out of around $7.6 million from lawsuits that he won for them, only to steal the money to fund a lavish lifestyle, according to federal authorities.
According to the Department of Justice, Avenatti stole money from client trust accounts after receiving it on their behalf, lied to them about receiving it, or in one instance, claimed that it had already been given to them.
He also obstructed and impeded the IRS from collecting more than $3.2 million in unpaid payroll taxes by lying to an IRS revenue officer, directing employees to stop depositing cash receipts, and changing the company name, Employer Identification Number, and bank account listed with his credit card processing company to avoid IRS levies, according to the DOJ.
U.S. District Judge James Selna said Avenatti “has done great evil for which he must answer.”
Selna mandated that the 14-year sentence run concurrently with two different sentences the former lawyer is already serving, which totals five years, that had been imposed in federal cases in the Southern District of New York.
Avenatti, who was once seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party, was also ordered to pay over $10.8 million in…
