The downfall of Michael Avenatti has brought unnecessary and unwanted attention to the legal profession in California and has created a backlash, according to the board chairman of the Loyola Law School.
“I think that regulators will use it to try to clamp down more restrictions on lawyers,” said Brian Kabateck, who in addition to being chairman of the board is also a working lawyer. “When you've got an Avenatti out there, it tends to tarnish the whole profession and makes people suspicious.”
Kabateck was reacting to the news that U.S. District Judge James V. Selna for the Central District of California had sentenced Avenatti last week to 14 years in prison.
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The Santa Ana federal judge also ordered him to pay more than $10.5 million in restitution.
“You could put it in a box and say it's a unique situation because of the Stormy Daniels, President Trump situation but when you look at it, he had engaged in a lot of obviously bad conduct," Kabateck told the Southern California Record.
That alleged bad conduct included attempting to extort some $25 million from Nike, siphoning some $300,000 from Daniels’ settlement, $10 million from another client’s settlement, wire fraud, and a tax-related felony, according to media reports.
"Most lawyers are honest," said Kabateck. "Most lawyers respect what they're doing. There are more than 250,000 licensed lawyers in California, and there are very few instances of this."
Avenatti lived large with law offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Newport Beach but was reportedly struggling financially.
“You don't have to steal,” said Orange County Attorney John Shu. “You could just be honest and declare bankruptcy...at least you're not committing any crimes. I would imagine that looking back in time, Avenatti would rather suffer some personal embarrassment in bankruptcy as opposed to now spending the next 18 years of his life in prison.”
Although Avenatti is currently at the Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in San Pedro, he was also sentenced to 4 years in prison for fraud and aggravated identity theft in Manhattan federal court by U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman in June.
“Avenatti’s multiple sentences show an individual who commits multiple crimes will be held accountable for each one," said Cayce Lynch, administrative partner with the Tyson & Mendes law firm. “It appears Avenatti will serve each sentence concurrently...a 5-year sentence he is currently serving in New York followed by a 14-year sentence in Southern California.”
Kabateck recalls a friend’s dinner party that both Avenatti and Daniels, an adult fim actress, attended.
Avenatti was convicted for pilfering her book profits after he had represented her in a smear campaign against former President Trump. Shortly after, Avenatti announced he would run for president.
"He was a competent trial lawyer," Kabateck added. "He was certainly a fighter for his clients up until the moment, I guess he stole their money. It's unfortunately a sad story and it's not just sad for his family and for people that he affected, it's sad for the legal community because I think we all take a hit when people like him and Tom Girardi do what they do."
Girardi was ordered by the California Supreme Court to pay $2.2 million-plus 10% interest to four minor children of Lion Air flight 610 crash victims from whom it was determined he stole money. However, the 83-year-old disgraced attorney is not in prison. He is currently under the thumb of a court-appointed guardianship instead.
“Avenatti's criminal actions were quite surprising giving his former ‘media darling’ status," Lynch told the Southern California Record. "He was publicly accepted as a good guy, taking a very public stand representing Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against former President Donald Trump. One talk show host compared him to the ‘Holy Spirit’ in 2018 and some believed Avenatti could even successfully challenge former President Trump in a presidential race.”