NEW YORK — Michael Avenatti delivered an audacious closing argument Wednesday in the trial over his alleged theft of $300,000 from Stormy Daniels for a book deal, proclaiming “this was my money.”
The disgraced lawyer, representing himself at trial, is accused of betraying the porn star client who made him famous by forging her signature and redirecting payments from her book publisher to an account he controlled.
Avenatti said the money from Daniels’ tell-all book, “Full Disclosure,” was simply his to take.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this was my money. This was the firm’s money. This wasn’t Ms. Daniels’ money. We weren’t obligated to give Ms. Daniels money,” he said.
His remarks were frequently interrupted by Manhattan Federal Judge Jesse Furman, who sustained objections by the government, forcing Avenatti to change the subject.
Avenatti’s opening line, “When my father was a teenager, he sold hot dogs at a ballpark,” prompted a sustained objection.
His closing line fared the same.
“I will leave you with this: I’m Italian. I like Italian food,” Avenatti said.
He still managed to complete the food metaphor.
“The case that the government is attempting to feed you has a giant cockroach in the middle of the plate. Would you eat that dish, or would you send it back? I submit that you would send it back,” he said.
The California lawyer — whose background is in civil, not criminal law — alternated between using the first and third person, adding to the surreal scene.
“There is insufficient evidence, ladies and gentlemen, to show that Michael Avenatti ever intended to harm Stormy Daniels,” he said.
He faces up to 22 years in prison if found guilty.
Once the jury was out of the courtroom and deliberating, Furman did not hide his irritation.
“No one cares that you like Italian food, and no one cares that your father was a hot dog vendor, it’s not relevant to the issues in this case,” Furman said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Sobelman said in the government’s closings that the case was simple.
“The defendant’s law firm was broke — that’s one of the reasons that he stole Ms. Daniels’ money,” the prosecutor said. “That explains why he stole Ms. Daniels’ money, but it doesn’t excuse the crime.”
Text messages introduced in court showed Avenatti lied to Daniels about her book advance, saying the publisher was being “difficult” when he’d already spent the money.
When she took the stand as the government’s star witness, Daniels told jurors that she considered Avenatti a close friend as well as her lawyer when he defended her in litigation against former President Donald Trump in 2018.
Daniels testified that she and Avenatti would make money through online crowdfunding and a court victory sometime in the future, because she could not afford a pricey lawyer. The legal win never came — and evidence showed Avenatti faced serious debt.
Sobelman slammed Avenatti as entitled.
“In this case, the truth is very, very simple,” Sobelman said. “That man took someone else’s money. That’s what the case is about.”
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