Disgraced former celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti was sentenced Monday in a California federal court to 14 years in prison for stealing millions of dollars from four former clients, the Wall Street Journal reported. U.S. District Judge James Selna handed down the sentence to Mr. Avenatti, who earlier this year pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud and one count of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service. Federal prosecutors said Mr. Avenatti lied to his former clients about settlement agreements he had negotiated for them and secretly spent some of the proceeds. He also obstructed the IRS’s efforts to collect more than $3 million in payroll taxes from a coffee business he owned, prosecutors said. Judge Selna ordered Mr. Avenatti to pay nearly $11 million in restitution to the former clients and the IRS. Read more. (Subscription required.)
For more information on the Avenatti sentencing, be sure to read DOJ's press release.