(TheLastPatriotNews.com) – Disgraced former lawyer Michael Avenatti, known for his anti-Trump public activism and representation of Stormy Daniels against Donald Trump, has been dealt a tremendous legal blow as his appeal to overturn his sentence for extorting Nike was rejected.
On Wednesday, according to court documents, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan decided 3-0 against Avenatti’s appeal.
As a result, the disbarred lawyer faces a combined total of 19 years behind bars and is scheduled for a release in January 2036, Reuters reports, as cited by The Daily Caller.
Until 2019, Michael Avenatti was a frequent guest on leftist media, such as CNN and MSNBC, and even mulled running for president of the United States.
He became a publicly recognizable figure when he began representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in a defamation lawsuit she filed against then-President Donald Trump.
The lawsuit failed, but it made Avenatti popular with left-wing audiences with his criticism of Trump.
The attorney was arrested in 2019 for allegedly trying to extort $1.5 million from athletics giant Nike. He was found guilty and slapped with a 2.5-year prison sentence.
Avenatti attempted the blackmail while representing Gary Franklin, a Los Angeles youth sports coach, who the lawyer claimed had damaging information on Nike.
In 2021, the infamous former lawyer was given another 2.5 years in prison because he defrauded his client Stormy Daniels from a book deal.
In December 2022, Avenatti got another 14 years behind bars after being found guilty of stealing millions of dollars from four clients.
According to Wednesday’s court filing, which rejected the appeal against his Nike extortion sentence, while representing Gary Franklin, the anti-Trump lawyer “used a quid pro quo to solicit a bribe from Nike … with the intent to defraud Franklin of the honest services owed to him by his attorney.”
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan also wrote that Avenatti demanded that Nike keep him as a lawyer.
He insisted that the sports goods corporation gave him a “guarantee [of] a total minimum payment of $15 million regardless of the amount of work ultimately performed.”
The appeals court concluded that Avenatti’s motion to overturn his Nike extortion sentence was “meritless.”
