Michael Avenatti’s legal troubles deepened after the embattled lawyer was indicted on charges of fraud and aggravated identity theft for allegedly stealing the advance on a book deal from the porn actress Stormy Daniels, his most famous client, and using the money on personal expenses like a monthly car payment on a Ferrari, Bloomberg News reported. The indictment by a federal grand jury, announced Wednesday by prosecutors in Manhattan, also charges Avenatti with extorting millions of dollars from Nike Inc., an allegation first made in March when the attorney was arrested outside the New York offices of the shoemaker’s law firm. Avenatti faces criminal prosecution in two states. In California, he was indicted in March on three dozen charges, including a claim that he stole millions of dollars from a paraplegic client’s settlement with Los Angeles County. In New York, he is accused of lying and forging documents to persuade a literary agent to divert money owed to his client to an account he controlled. Avenatti used the money for personal and business purposes, according to the indictment.
