Convicted in February of one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, former attorney Michael Avenatti was sentenced to four years in prison for stealing nearly $300,000 from his client, Stormy Daniels, CNN reports.
Avenatti forged a letter from Daniels to the publishing company who signed Daniels to write a memoir, saying that $300,000 of her $800,000 advance should be sent directly to Avenatti. Daniels’ book deal was highly anticipated given that she disclosed she had a sexual relationship with Donald Trump, for which Trump paid her $130,000 from his company’s money to keep the affair secret.
The maximum sentence Avenatti could have received is 20 years. He’s currently serving 30 months in prison for attempting to extort $20 million from sportswear manufacturer Nike.