Suspended attorney Michael Avenatti was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Monday for defrauding his clients and for obstructing Internal Revenue Service (IRS) work to try and collect payroll taxes from his business.
The U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles said Avenatti's sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge James V. Selna, reporting that the judge's ruling said his imprisonment should run consecutive to his sentences totaling five years. Those were previously given in two other federal cases in New York's Southern District, the statement said.
Avenatti's Tully's Coffee owed $5 million in unpaid payroll taxes, and prosecutors accused him of obstructing the IRS in its work to collect that money.
Earlier this year Avenatti pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud, connected to each clienthe stole from. He also pleaded guilty to one count of planning to obstruct the IRS.