Michael Avenatti Released From New York Jail, Will Head to California Over Coronavirus Fears
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Michael Avenatti has been released from jail due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, according to his attorneys.
The celebrity lawyer who represented adult film star Stormy Daniels was being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, where he has been since January. Judge James Selna ruled that Avenatti could walk if he returned to jail in 90 days.
“We’re really gratified that the judge took the action that he did. He recognized the seriousness of the situation. Unfortunately, there are a lot courts across the country that have not. We’re fortunate,” Avenatti’s attorney, Dean Steward, said in a statement to CNN.
One inmate and 31 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 at the facility.
Avenatti was arrested on Jan. 15 over alleged misconduct that violated his pretrial conditions while he was outside a hearing in the Los Angeles State Bar Court. Prosecutors said Avenatti concealed cash to avoid paying court-ordered judgments to his former wife and a former law partner. He was convicted in February of extorting more than $20 million from the apparel company Nike and is scheduled to be sentenced in June, and is awaiting trial in California on the other federal charges.
Avenatti’s legal team said he would spend the next 90 days in home confinement at a friend’s house in Venice, California. Selna said he wasn’t” comfortable with Avenatti traveling at any point … unaccompanied on his return to California,” so an attorney will be accompanying Avenatti on his trip.
The judge also barred Avenatti, a once-prolific Twitter user, from using the internet while he is out. His last tweet, sent before the evening of his arrest, took aim at congressional Democrats for their handling of President Donald Trump‘s impeachment. “Turning over the articles of impeachment is yet another blunder in a long list of blunders by the Democrats. Once again, they caved and got out-maneuvered by the Republicans,” Avenatti wrote.
