By Aaron Miller-
A federal judge has turned down a request by Los Angeles lawyer Michael Avenatti to be released from a New York jail where three inmates have tested positive for the coronavirus
Judge James V. Selna of U.S. District Court in Santa Ana said Avenatti, a former lawyer for adult film actress Stormy Daniels, poses “a danger to the community” and should not be set free unless he can post a $1-million bond secured by $500,000 in real estate or other “hard assets.”
In a conference call with U.S. District Judge James Selna on Tuesday, defense attorney Dean Steward was told his client could be transferred out of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City and spend time under house arrest in Southern California, but the judge set several conditions, including the $1 million bail.
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Avenatti’s attorney said the earlier proposed $500,000 bail appeared to be the best he could do.
“Frankly, your honor, we can’t meet this,” Steward told Selna of the increased bond proposed by federal prosecutors. “I had to work very hard to get it as high as I could at this point, and a $1 million bond with $500,000 posted is simply not possible.”
Steward had proposed that Avenatti would stay at the Los Angeles home of a friend, Jay Manheimer. If Selna wanted Avenatti to stay in the New York area, he could reside with his brother-in-law Stephen Rodier in New Jersey, Steward said.
“I have an ultimate duty to protect the public here,” Selna said Tuesday in a court hearing conducted by telephone because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“Frankly, your honor, we can’t meet this,” said H. Dean Steward, Avenatti’s lawyer.
Avenatti was the attorney for porn actress Stormy Daniels before the pair dramatically fell out in 2019. The lawyer was convicted of three felonies in February for trying to extort more than $20 million from Nike. His sentencing is in June. A few weeks later, he will face trial in New York on federal charges of stealing money from Daniels.
Avenatti is also awaiting trial in California on federal charges of fraud, failure to pay taxes and other financial crimes. He is accused of stealing millions of dollars from five clients. Selna revoked Avenatti’s bail in January after finding that he had apparently broken fraud and money-laundering laws after his arrest in March 2019. Avenatti is being detained at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. In his request to be set free for 90 days, Avenatti said he had pneumonia six months ago and was susceptible to catching the virus from other inmates.
At the hearing on Tuesday, Selna was skeptical of Avenatti’s proposal to fly to California for 90 days of detention at the home of his friend Jay Manheimer.
“I’m not comfortable in having Mr. Avenatti at any point travel unaccompanied on his return to California,” Selna said.Avenatti is in day five of a two-week quarantine in the New York jail, because he had contact with an inmate who fell ill with symptoms associated with coroanvirus, Steward said. Avenatti could not be released until the quarantine is finished, so he has time to try to raise more bail money, Steward said.
Avenatti is part of a growing group of high-profile inmates, including comedian Bill Cosby, financier Bernie Madoff and singer R. Kelly, who are seeking release from jail to protect them from COVID-19 , citing fears surrounding the spread of the virus in jails and prisons. It hasn’t worked so far because they should have known jail wasn’t going to be a nice experience before they committed their crimes.
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