A federal grand jury has brought a 36-count indictment against celebrity attorney Michael Avenatti, charging him with embezzlement, fraud, perjury, and more.
The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday morning that charges stem from Avenatti’s dealings with multiple clients, including Geoffrey Ernest Johnson, who is mentally ill and a paraplegic. Johnson won a $4 million settlement from Los Angeles County, but Avenatti hid the money from him for years. He allegedly also hid $2.75 million from another client. The day after he received that money, he allegedly purchased a $2.5 million private jet for a company he owned. The jet has since been seized by federal agents
“Avenatti stole millions of dollars from five clients and used a tangled web of shell companies and bank accounts to cover up the theft, the Santa Ana grand jury alleged in an indictment that prosecutors will make public Thursday,” the Times reported.
Avenatti and his various businesses also owed millions in back taxes, and his Newport Beach law firm was reaching bankruptcy, the Times reported.
“The breadth of Avenatti’s alleged crimes is clear in the maximum sentence he would face if convicted on all counts: 335 years in prison,” the Times reported.
Michael Avenatti To Be Indicted on 36 Counts, Including Fraud, Perjury, Tax-Evasion, And Embezzlement
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Source:
The Daily Wire
Stormy and Mike by The Circus is licensed under Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.