A California judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in lawyer Michael Avenatti’s embezzlement case, where he was accused of stealing nearly $10 million in settlement funds from his clients.
The Orange County judge ruled that federal prosecutors failed to disclose data in connection with a law firm server that included a database that tracked expenses and costs associated with cases, officials told NBC News.
After Avenatti raised the issue last week, U.S. District Court Judge James Selna agreed that it should have been turned over and declared the mistrial. Selna said he thinks prosecutors’ failure to turn over the information was a mistake and found no malice or misconduct.
July 9, 202100:31
Attorneys representing Avenatti did not immediately have a comment. Avenatti celebrated the news outside the conference room.
“This has been an incredibly difficult journey for my family, for my children, for my friends and lastly, for me. I am extremely thankful to Mr. Steward, Ms. Cummings Cefali and our entire team for standing by me and advocating tirelessly on my behalf,” he told a group of reporters.
“Today is a great day for the rule of law in the United States of America.”
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for next month.
Prosecutors allege that between 2015 and 2019, Avenatti stole nearly $10 million in settlement funds from at least five of his clients — Geoffrey Johnson, Alexis Gardner, Gregory Barela, Michelle Phan and Long Tran.
In addition to these allegations, Avenatti still faces charges of bankruptcy, bank and tax fraud in California. He is expected to be tried on those counts later this year after Selna split a 36-count indictment into two trials.
He is also accused in New York of defrauding Stormy Daniels, a former adult film actress who said she had an extramarital affair with Donald Trump in 2006. An indictment for that case alleges that Daniels was supposed to receive two payments of $148,750, but Avenatti instead had the money sent to funds he controlled. Prosecutors accused him of spending the money lavishly, including monthly payments on a Ferrari.
Avenatti has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In addition, Avenatti was sentenced in July to 2½ years in prison for an extortion plot against Nike. Federal investigators said the disgraced lawyer was representing a youth basketball coach in Los Angeles who claimed to have information that Nike employees made illicit payments to top high school athletes.
Avenatti threatened to ruin Nike’s reputation and its stock price unless it agreed to pay him and his client millions of dollars, prosecutors said.
The Associated Press contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
