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Photo: Mary Altaffer/ dpa
Michael Avenatti became internationally known as a Trump critic.
Most recently, however, the lawyer made headlines mainly because he himself was in court.
In February, Avenatti was convicted of cheating on his former client Stormy Daniels.
A New York federal court saw it as proven that the 50-year-old cheated the porn actress out of $300,000.
She was to receive the money for a book about her alleged affair with ex-President Donald Trump.
Now the sentence has been announced: Avenatti was sentenced to four years in prison.
The news agencies Reuters and AP report unanimously.
However, Avenatti is already serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence stemming from his 2020 conviction of attempting to extort millions of dollars from Nike.
Eighteen months of the current sentence will run concurrently with the old one, leaving Avenatti to serve an additional two-and-a-half years in prison, Judge Jesse M. Furman said.
Common thief or noble knight
According to prosecutors, Avenatti, who was representing himself in the trial, tricked literary agents into transferring $300,000 out of a total advance of $800,000 on Daniel's book into a bank account he controlled without their knowledge.
He spent the money on plane tickets, restaurant visits and leasing a Ferrari, among other things.
He later paid back around half of the sum.
Prosecutors portrayed Avenatti as a common thief and serial liar. He described himself as a noble knight who helped Daniels find fame in her fight against Trump and landed her a lucrative book deal she had previously been vain to pursue.
The 51-year-old said he was entitled to the payments.
Stormy Daniels appeared as a key witness at the trial.
In an interview, the 42-year-old said justice had been served because Avenatti was found guilty.
sak/Reuters/AP
