He is best known for his legal representation of adult film actress Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against then U.S. President Donald Trump, and his multiple convictions for attempting to extort sports apparel company Nike and defrauding and embezzling settlement money from a series of other clients.

[21] While a law student, Avenatti worked with Professor Jonathan Turley on constitutional issues relating to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

[22] After law school, Avenatti worked at O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles, California, alongside Daniel M. Petrocelli, who previously represented the Ron Goldman family in its case against O. J.

[44] He later pursued a class-action suit on behalf of fans who showed up for Super Bowl XLV with tickets that didn't correspond to actual seats, but the courts in Texas declined to certify the class.

[45] In 2016, Avenatti filed another class action lawsuit against the NFL, this time on behalf of ticket-holders to the annual Hall of Fame Game, which was canceled a few hours before kickoff.

[49] In June 2018, the former partner filed a motion in U.S. bankruptcy court asking for a lien on any and all legal fees Avenatti's firm might collect, up to $10 million, from clients in 54 cases including his representation of Stormy Daniels.

[50] In November 2018, a few days after his arrest on suspicion of domestic violence, Avenatti's law firm was evicted from its office in Newport Beach after skipping $213,000 worth of rent payments.

[55] Avenatti had been planning to race the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, but replaced himself with Patrick Long a few weeks before the event because scheduling conflicts had arisen with his other business interests.

[56] At the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, Avenatti teamed up with Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Saud and Polish driver Jakub "Kuba" Giermaziak in the No.

[60] At one stage, Leonard and Avenatti embarked on a road trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma – financed by the former's business partner, Todd Hoffman – in order to meet Victor Miller, who had allegedly given Pepsi right of first refusal for his privately-owned Harrier jet.

[61] Through his research, Avenatti discovered that the Pepsi Stuff commercial aired in Canada – also displaying a supposedly redeemable Harrier jump jet – included a disclaimer stating that the offer was in jest.

[69] Avenatti was a frequent guest on talk shows and cable news programs to discuss the cases, logging 108 CNN and MSNBC appearances between March 7 and May 10, 2018.

In September 2018, as the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court was being evaluated in the Senate, two women accused him of inappropriate sexual conduct while in high school or college.

Swetnick claimed, in an unnotarized declaration, signed under penalty of perjury, that Kavanaugh, as a high school student in the early 1980s, drank excessively and engaged in physically aggressive behavior toward girls.

Subsequently, NBC News reported that the unnamed declarant told them on September 30 (before Michael Avenatti released her sworn statement on October 3 with her name redacted) that she never thought it was Kavanaugh spiking the punch and that she never witnessed him act inappropriately towards girls.

The unnamed declarant contacted NBC News on October 5 and reiterated her denial of ever seeing Kavanaugh spike punch or act inappropriately toward women, and accused Avenatti of twisting her words.

"[85][86][87] In February 2019, Avenatti provided Cook County State's Attorney's Office with a tape of R. Kelly having sex with an underage girl, which he received from a whistleblower whom he was representing.

[90] Avenatti expressed interest in running for President of the United States in 2020; he started a political action committee,[91][92] and held his first fundraiser at the Democratic Wing Ding in August.

[99][100] An LAPD spokesperson said that the unidentified victim, at the time, later described as his girlfriend,[101] had "visible injuries" and that the case would be referred to the Los Angeles County District Attorney for prosecution.

[114] The arrest came about 15 minutes after Avenatti announced he would be holding a press conference the next day, at which he claimed he would reveal information about a high school and college basketball scandal involving Nike.

[76] During the afternoon of March 25, Avenatti and an unnamed co-conspirator were scheduled to meet with lawyers from Nike, at which prosecutors allege he would have offered to cancel the press conference in exchange for payment.

[76] The indictment said that Avenatti had embezzled money from a client and had defrauded a Mississippi bank by submitting false tax returns to obtain more than $4 million in loans.

[117] On April 10, 2019, Avenatti was charged by a federal grand jury in Santa Ana, California with embezzling funds that his client, NBA player Hassan Whiteside, had wired to him in January 2017 to pay a settlement to his ex-girlfriend.

Federal agents subsequently seized a Honda HA-420 twin-engine jet from Santa Barbara Airport co-owned by Avenatti and former client, Indigo Systems co-founder William J. Parrish, as the latter was about to embark on a flight.

[120][121] Avenatti is accused of stealing money from clients to purchase a $5 million private jet he co-owned, as well as fraud related to tax documents and banking information.

"[122] Vowing to "fully fight" the additional charges and appealing to the public to presume his innocence, Avenatti stated on Twitter that "For 20 years, I have represented Davids vs. Goliaths and relied on due process and our system of justice.

"[122] Avenatti pleaded guilty on June 16, 2022, and on December 5, 2022, he was sentenced by James V. Selna in a California federal court to 14 years in prison for wire fraud as well as obstruction against the IRS in their effort to collect $5 million in unpaid payroll taxes for Tully's Coffee.

[15] On May 22, 2019, Avenatti was charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft as a result of allegations that he stole money from former client Stormy Daniels while helping negotiate her 2018 book deal.

Prosecutors in California accused Avenatti of violating the conditions of his release by committing a series of financial crimes while free on bond: structuring currency transactions to avoid reporting requirements and concealing his personal assets from his creditors.

[135] The jet was later confiscated by federal agents at the Santa Barbara airport on April 10, 2019, during an asset seizure based on the tax, wire, and bankruptcy fraud indictment filed in the U.S. Central District Court of California.