Michael Avenatti convicted of cheating Stormy Daniels out of nearly $300,000

Michael Avenatti was convicted on Friday of charges he cheated the adult film actor Stormy Daniels out of nearly $300,000 she was supposed to get for writing a book about an alleged tryst with former president Donald Trump.

Avenatti dumped his lawyers and decided to represent himself shortly after the trial began, setting up a face-to-face showdown with Daniels, his former client, who appeared in a new role as star witness.

Prosecutors portrayed Avenatti as a common thief and serial liar. He countered by seeking to cast himself as a white knight who came to the rescue of Daniels until he turned on her.

Avenatti still faces other legal problems.

He has yet to begin serving a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence he received in 2020 for trying to extort up to $25m from sportswear giant Nike.

He is also awaiting a retrial in Los Angeles on charges that he ripped off clients and others for millions of dollars. He represented himself last year for six weeks before a mistrial resulted.

Daniels had initially hired Avenatti as she was trying to escape the terms of a $130,000 hush payment deal that kept her from speaking publicly about an alleged sexual encounter that Trump claims never happened.