Famed California lawyer Micheal Avanatti has had a meteoric fall after his quick rise to fame in 2018. Following claims that the celebrity lawyer was misusing client information, Avanatti was sentenced last week to two and a half years behind bars after he was found guilty of attempting to extort Nike.

Following his trial that lasted three weeks, Avenatti was found guilty of trying to extort the shoe company to the tune of $25 million. The charges were brought against the lawyer after he and an uncharged co-conspirator threatened to plummet the shoe company’s stock price by holding a press release in which they would announce illicit payments that the company was making to standout high school athletes.

In a recorded phone call with Nike reps, Avenatti can be heard threatening the company if they did not comply with his demands. Prosecutors argued that Avenatti threatened Nike to pay his client, a Los Angeles youth basketball coach, $1.5 million and that they pay Avenatti and his co-conspirator anywhere from $15 million to $25 million so that they could conduct an “internal investigation.”

Defense Pushes For Lean Sentence

Facing the court during sentencing, Avenatti shed tears as he relayed a remorseful speech, “I and I alone have destroyed my career, my relationships, my life, and there is no doubt that I deserve to pay, have paid, and will pay a further price for what I have done,” He said. "Every father wants their children to be proud of them. I want mine to be ashamed. Because if they are ashamed, it means their moral compass is exactly where it should be," he said.

Judge Paul G. Gardephe described Avenatti’s behavior with the shoe company as “outrageous.” Gardephe added, “Mr. Avenatti had become drunk on the power of his platform or what he perceived the power of his platform to be.” Gardephe adds, “He had become someone who operated as if the laws and rules which apply to everyone else didn’t apply to him.”

While the federal guideline for Avenatti’s’ charge is nine years, prosecutors were pushing for an eight-year sentence following the recommendation of the federal probation officials. Avenatti’s defense argued that Avenatti’s public shaming and his “cataclysmic fall” should be considered as part of the sentencing. Coupled with the crime being one that did not result in any financial losses to any of the victims in the case, the defense pushed for a six-month sentence along with a year of home confinement. His defense wrote, "He cannot go anywhere in public without inducing and subjecting himself to vitriolic comments and abuse."

The Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office explained in its filing that “The defendant, a prominent attorney and media personality with a large public following, betrayed his client and sought to enrich himself by weaponizing his public profile in an attempt to extort a publicly-traded company out of tens of millions of dollars.” The prosecution added that “This was an egregious abuse of trust, and it warrants real and serious punishment.”

Media Darling During Trump Era

The disgraced lawyer was one of the most outspoken adversaries of former president Donald Trump. Avenatti’s climb to fame was largely due to his representation of porn star and stripper Stormy Daniels. Following the election, Daniels spoke out against the president alleging she was given hush money in exchange for her alleged sexual relationship with the president.

Along with his representation of Daniels, the outspoken lawyer catapulted to the national stage as he became a frequent flier on a range of news networks, particularly left-leaning networks. On MSNBC, Avenatti graced the screen with interviews over 100 times. NewsBusters shared that CBS This Morning had Avenatti on at least six times between 2018 and 2019. According to the Media Research Center, CNN was perhaps the main platform Avenatti touted his attacks on then-President Trump with at least 122 interviews. His constant presence even conjured up rumors of a presidential bid with media critic Brian Stelter going as far as declaring the ambitious lawyer a legitimate threat to the president in the 2020 election.

Avenatti is set to turn himself in to officials on September 15 to begin his sentence. Meanwhile, Avenatti is still facing legal battles on federal fraud charges in Los Angeles. In that case, prosecutors allege that Avenatti stole nearly $10 million from at least five clients between 2015 and 2019.