The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined an appeal from disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti, who argued that his extortion conviction was based on a vague anti-corruption law that shouldn’t apply to lawyers making settlement demands.
Best known for representing adult film actress Stormy Daniels, Avenatti was sentenced to a 30-month prison sentence in 2021 for demanding that Nike pay him more than $20 million to avoid going public with allegations of a scandal involving illicit payments to amateur basketball players.
Avenatti, who has since been sentenced to additional prison time for other crimes, told the Supreme Court that his conviction for “honest services fraud” should be tossed because the crime is vague, particularly when it’s applied to non-public officials. The crime can be charged against private individuals who have a fiduciary responsibility to clients, for instance.
On his broad point, at least, Avenatti’s argument has picked up some support from members of the Supreme Court’s conservative wing. In a concurring opinion last year, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that courts have struggled for decades over how to apply the charge in the private sector.
“No one can say what sort of fiduciary relationship is enough to sustain a federal felony conviction and decades in federal prison,” Gorsuch wrote in an opinion joined by Justice Clarence Thomas.
Avenatti cited the Gorsuch opinion in his appeal and argued that the Supreme Court should invalidate the law. The Biden administration countered that Avenatti’s conduct was well within the plain meaning of the prohibition – in other words, not a fringe case – and that his appeal was foreclosed by earlier Supreme Court precedent.
He also argued that an attorney shouldn’t be subject to criminal extortion charges as part of a settlement demand, though prosecutors argued in part that Avenatti was making his demands for himself, not his client.
The New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals declined to overturn Avenatti’s conviction last year.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh said he recused himself from the court’s consideration of the appeal, though he didn’t provide an explanation for his decision.
