Background and career
Michael John Avenatti (born February 16, 1971) is an American former attorney currently incarcerated for felony fraud and extortion. He is best known for his legal representation of adult film actress Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against then U.S. President Donald Trump, and his multiple convictions for attempting to extort sports apparel company Nike and defrauding and embezzling settlement money from a series of other clients. In the late 2010s, Avenatti appeared extensively on television and in print as a legal and political commentator, and as a representative for prominent clients. In March 2019, Avenatti was indicted in California and New York on various criminal counts including extortion, tax evasion, fraud, and embezzlement. On February 14, 2020, Avenatti was convicted of extorting Nike in a New York court, and on July 8, 2021, he was sentenced to 30 months in prison. In a subsequent case, he was sentenced to four years of prison for a financial crime against Stormy Daniels, with 18 of those months to be served concurrently with the Nike sentence, thus adding 12 months to his total time to serve. He has been imprisoned since February 7, 2022. On June 12, 2025, he was sentenced to 11 years for stealing millions from clients, to be served concurrently with the Stormy Daniels sentence. He was disbarred from practice in California on February 5, 2025.
Avenatti was born on February 16, 1971, in Sacramento, California, into a family of Italian heritage. He spent his early childhood in Colorado and Utah. His father was a manager for Anheuser-Busch. He moved with his family to Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, in 1982, where he attended Parkway Central High School. After graduating in 1989, Avenatti attended Saint Louis University for one year before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1996. While in college, he worked as an opposition researcher for Rahm Emanuel's political consulting firm. After college, Avenatti attended the George Washington University Law School. His application was initially wait-listed, and he was eventually admitted to its evening school program. While a law student, Avenatti worked with Professor Jonathan Turley on constitutional issues relating to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Avenatti graduated in 2000 and ranked first in his class with a Juris Doctor with high honors and Order of the Coif membership. In 2003, the George Washington Law School established the Michael J. Avenatti Award for Excellence in Pre-Trial and Trial Advocacy after Avenatti made five-figure donations to the school. The annual award is given to the member of the graduating Juris Doctor class who demonstrates excellence in pre-trial and trial advocacy. Avenatti was awarded GW's Alumni Recognition Award in 2010.
In college and later in law school, Avenatti worked at The Research Group, a political opposition research and media firm run by Rahm Emanuel (later White House Chief of Staff for President Barack Obama, and Mayor of Chicago). Avenatti worked on over 150 Democratic and Republican campaigns in 42 states while studying at George Washington University. After law school, Avenatti worked at O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles, California, alongside Daniel M. Petrocelli, who previously represented the Ron Goldman family in its case against O. J. Simpson. He assisted Petrocelli on multiple legal matters, including the representation of singer Christina Aguilera and litigation surrounding the movie K-19: The Widowmaker, and worked extensively for Don Henley and Glenn Frey of the musical group the Eagles, including in a suit brought by former bandmate Don Felder against the group and Irving Azoff. Avenatti later joined Greene Broillet & Wheeler, a Los Angeles boutique law firm. While there, he handled a number of high-profile cases, including a $10 million defamation case against Paris Hilton which was settled out of court, settled an idea-theft lawsuit relating to the show The Apprentice and against producers Mark Burnett and Donald Trump, and a $40 million embezzlement lawsuit involving KPMG. In 2007, Avenatti formed the law firm Eagan Avenatti, LLP (formerly known as Eagan O'Malley & Avenatti, LLP) with offices in Newport Beach, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, all in California. The firm launched many high-profile lawsuits, including one over allegedly defective hospital gowns. He appeared on 60 Minutes three times in connection with cases he has handled. Avenatti also served as lead counsel on a number of historically large cases, including an April 2017 $454 million verdict after a jury trial in Federal Court in Los Angeles in a fraud case against Kimberly-Clark and Halyard Health, later reduced to a $21.7 million verdict upon appeal, an $80.5 million class-action settlement against Service Corporation International, and a $41 million jury verdict against KPMG. In 2013, Avenatti formed a company, Global Baristas, to buy Seattle-based Tully's Coffee out of bankruptcy. Avenatti first formed a partnership with actor Patrick Dempsey, but Dempsey later backed away from the venture after a short legal battle that resulted in a settlement. Since 2015, Global Baristas has been named in more than 50 lawsuits in state and federal courts for breach of contract, unpaid bills, and unpaid taxes. In 2015, Avenatti prevailed against the National Football League (NFL) following a jury trial in Dallas. He later pursued a class-action suit on behalf of fans who showed up for Super Bowl XLV with tickets that didn't correspond to actual seats, but the courts in Texas declined to certify the class. In 2016, Avenatti filed another class action lawsuit against the NFL, this time on behalf of ticket-holders to the annual Hall of Fame Game, which was canceled a few hours before kickoff. In 2017, ex-con Gerald Tobin alleged Avenatti failed to pay him $28,700 for private investigatory work. As a result, Avenatti's firm was abruptly forced into bankruptcy. Tobin, a Floridian with four decades of convictions and jail time, was not a licensed investigator. Tobin's claim forced Avenatti to cancel a deposition in an unrelated lawsuit days later, raising the question of collusion between Avenatti and Tobin. The issue was resolved when the pair entered a non-disclosure agreement, and Avenatti paid Tobin the $28,700. In 2018, Avenatti's law firm was subjected to a $10 million judgment in a U.S. bankruptcy court. Avenatti has also defaulted on a $440,000 verdict in back taxes, penalties, and interest that he was personally obligated to pay under another bankruptcy settlement. The U.S. Attorney's office asserted in court that a motion seeking payment would soon be filed against Avenatti. Eagan Avenatti had been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and, in December 2017, had agreed to pay $4.8 million in unpaid fees to a former partner, $2 million in back taxes, and $1 million to other creditors. In June 2018, the former partner filed a motion in U.S. bankruptcy court asking for a lien on any and all legal fees Avenatti's firm might collect, up to $10 million, from clients in 54 cases including his representation of Stormy Daniels. In November 2018, a few days after his arrest on suspicion of domestic violence, Avenatti's law firm was evicted from its office in Newport Beach after skipping $213,000 worth of rent payments. In January 2019, a former client filed an arbitration against Avenatti, alleging misuse of settlement funds Eagan Avenatti LLP had received in trust. On June 3, 2019, the California State Bar filed a 573-page petition to enroll Avenatti in involuntary inactive status pending the outcome of the criminal cases and the disciplinary action which will be filed against him. The primary basis for the action was Avenatti's alleged embezzlement of $1,600,000 in funds from client Greg Barela.
Starting in 2010, Avenatti drove in approximately 33 sportscar races, including various American Le Mans Series, FIA World Endurance Championship, Porsche Supercup, and United SportsCar Championship races in the United States and Europe. These races included the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, 2012 Petit Le Mans, and the Long Beach Grand Prix. Avenatti had been planning to race the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, but replaced himself with Patrick Long a few weeks before the event because scheduling conflicts had arisen with his other business interests. At the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, Avenatti teamed up with Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Saud and Polish driver Jakub "Kuba" Giermaziak in the No. 66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia. The team placed seventh in its class.
Prior to the 1999 resolution of the Leonard v. Pepsico, Inc. lawsuit, Avenatti – then a law student – was hired by plaintiff John Leonard as a media relations consultant. Avenatti assisted Leonard in developing relationships and gaining interviews with earned media in order to sway public opinion. The two became close friends. At one stage, Leonard and Avenatti embarked on a road trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma – financed by the former's business partner, Todd Hoffman – in order to meet Victor Miller, who had allegedly given Pepsi right of first refusal for his privately owned Harrier jet. Through his research, Avenatti discovered that the Pepsi Stuff commercial aired in Canada – also displaying a supposedly redeemable Harrier jump jet – included a disclaimer stating that the offer was in jest. He also unearthed information relating to the 1992 Pepsi Number Fever disaster in the Philippines, as the result of a failed Pepsi marketing campaign. Avenatti eventually left the team over disagreement with his methods. Avenatti appeared in the 2022 Netflix docuseries Pepsi, Where's My Jet?, recounting his role in Leonard's defense; his interviews were filmed under house arrest.
In March 2018, Avenatti filed a lawsuit on behalf of adult film actress Stormy Daniels seeking to invalidate a 2016 non-disclosure agreement regarding an alleged affair with Donald Trump in 2006, claiming that Daniels had been paid off by Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen not to disclose information covered by the NDA. The non-disclosure agreement had been negotiated in the final days of the 2016 U.S. Presidential campaign. Avenatti also represented Daniels in a related defamation suit against Trump. In October 2018, a federal judge dismissed the defamation lawsuit and ordered Daniels to pay Trump's legal fees. Avenatti said he would appeal that decision; Daniels later said that Avenatti had initiated the suit against her wishes. Avenatti was a frequent guest on talk shows and cable news programs to discuss the cases, logging 108 CNN and MSNBC appearances between March 7 and May 10, 2018. He also gained a large following on Twitter; he ended his tweets about the case and other Trump-related matters with the Twitter hashtag "#basta" – the Italian word for "enough." In May 2018, Avenatti released records showing multiple large payments, some from major corporations, into the bank account Cohen had used to pay Daniels. Cohen's lawyers subsequently argued that some of the transactions released by Avenatti involved a different Michael Cohen, but they did not dispute the larger deposits. The US Treasury Department opened an investigation into how Avenatti gained information from Cohen's private bank records. Avenatti had also filed a motion to join the federal investigation of Michael Cohen. The federal judge issued Avenatti "a choice" that if he wanted to join, he would have to end what the judge called his "publicity tour" of TV appearances and tweets about the case. Avenatti withdrew the motion, and appeared on MSNBC that same day. In early March 2019, Daniels terminated her arrangement with Avenatti, replacing him with attorney Clark Brewster. Later that month, when federal charges against Avenatti were announced, she said, "Knowing what I know now about Michael, I'm saddened but not shocked regarding his arrest." Avenatti faces New York charges of wire fraud, identity theft, and embezzling almost $300,000 from Daniels. On June 2, 2022, Avenatti was sentenced to four years in prison for defrauding Daniels.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
