Fall of Avenatti: From cable news superstar to rat-infested cell

FPI / March 13, 2020

Michael Avenatti appeared more than 100 times on CNN and MSNBC in 2018. CNN personality Brian Stelter once beamed that his pal Avenatti could run for president. Now Avenatti is confined to a Manhattan jail cell surrounded by rats.

Which led some to observe that the only difference in his life is the setting.

Avenatti is being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), the same jail where Jeffrey Epstein was being held when he allegedly committed suicide. Avenatti has been residing in the MCC since his bail was revoked by a federal judge in California.

Avenatti’s lawyer, Scott Srebnick, sent a letter to a Manhattan judge urging him to delay a pre-sentencing interview by 30 days, and said the coronavirus has made Srebnick apprehensive about visiting his client.

“Mr. Avenatti’s cell was infested with rats. The jail reeks of urine. As of yesterday, Mr. Avenatti had not shaved in weeks,” Srebnick wrote, according to The New York Post. “Meanwhile, across the country, public officials are declaring states of emergency as a result of the spread of the coronavirus.”

“Health officials are uncertain of the actual risks. And, by all accounts, a prison facility poses among the highest risks of spread of infection,” Srebnick said.

Avenatti is being held in the same jail cell that reportedly once housed convicted Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. At his sentencing last July, "El Chapo" described living at the MCC as “psychological, emotional, mental torture 24 hours a day.”

Avenatti is charged in three separate federal cases that allege he ripped off clients for millions of dollars, among them porn star Stormy Daniels. He was also found guilty of extortion last month after threatening to hold a press conference embarrassing Nike unless they paid him $15-25 million."

According to Quartz, Avenatti faces over 330 years of prison time for all charges against him, with the maximum sentence in the Nike case being 47 years.

Avenatti became a hero to leftists after representing porn Daniels, who claimed to have had an affair with President Donald Trump in 2006. Avenatti appeared on cable news over 100 times in a 10 week span in 2018 following Daniels’ allegations, but suffered a swift fall from grace following allegations of domestic violence.

Free Press International