Convicted California lawyer Michael Avenatti wants leniency at sentencing for defrauding former client Stormy Daniels.
His lawyers cite a letter he sent to the porn actor saying he is truly sorry. His lawyers wrote on Thursday in a Manhattan federal court submission that he wants counseling and alcohol treatment. He was convicted of cheating Daniels of nearly $300,000 in book proceeds.
He tried to justify taking some proceeds by citing legal quests he took on for Daniels to negate the effects of a 2016 payment she said she received to remain silent about a tryst with Donald Trump.
“This sobering reality is as sufficient and powerful a punishment and deterrence as any. Worse, Mr. Avenatti’s extreme rise and fall played out on the most public of platforms, an experience he is unlikely to ever recover from reputationally,” Avenatti's lawyers said.