The judge who is presiding over proceedings in the case in which one-time prominent and monied Los Angeles attorney Michael J. Avenatti is charged with cheating former client Stormy Daniels out of $300,000 denied, on May 6, a defense motion to bar the press from voir dire in the trial, slated to start Jan. 10, 2022.

U.S. District Court Judge Jesse M. Furman of the Southern District of New York rejected the contention that the effect of press access at Avenatti’s trial before Judge Paul G. Gardephe of the same district—in which Avenatti was convicted Feb. 14, 2020 on attempted extortion and wire fraud counts—points to the need to restrict press access in the forthcoming trial. Furman wrote:

“[T]he Defendant provides zero evidence that the press coverage of jury selection in his trial before Judge Gardephe affected the fairness of that trial (or that any concerns could not be addressed through less restrictive measures, such as admonishing prospective jurors not to read any press about the case). If anything, the case for allowing press access at a trial in this case in January 2022 will be much stronger than it was in the trial before Judge Gardephe in early 2020. Put simply, given the passage of time; the fact that Donald J. Trump, the Defendant's erstwhile nemesis, is no longer President of the United States; and the Defendant's other legal troubles (including but not limited to his conviction before Judge Gardephe), the Defendant is not quite as high profile as he once was.”

The $300,000 Avenatti is accused of taking was an advance to Daniels, a porn star, in connection with her book, “Full Disclosure,” in which she tells of her affair with Trump. Avenatti allegedly forged her signature on a letter to her literary agent, directing that payments be sent to a bank account he controlled.

Sentencing in the case before Gardephe had been scheduled for May 7 but has been postponed to June 30. The conviction was based on attempting to pry nearly $25 million from Nike by threatening to expose misconduct by the sportswear giant in the recruitment of college basketball players if it did not pay.

Avenatti is facing a July 13 trial on embezzlement charges in the courtroom of U.S. District Court Senior Judge James Selna of the Central District of California. He is in home confinement in the Venice, Calif. abode of a friend, Jay Manheimer.

State Bar disciplinary charges were filed July 29, 2019, but proceedings were abated on Sept. 17 of last year in light of pending charges before Selna based on allegedly cheating clients and committing bankruptcy fraud. In light of the conviction in the Nike case, and the prospect of a sentence of 40 years or more in prison, State Bar proceedings against him are relegated to little significance, with it looming as a virtual certainty that he will ultimately be disbarred. He is under suspension based on his conviction.

Avenatti has handled a number of high-profile cases, including representation of Daniels—whose actual name is Stephanie Clifford—in her actions against then-President Donald Trump in an effort to skirt a 2016 nondisclosure agreement she signed in connection with a $130,000 pay-off for agreeing not to talk publicly of their affair in 2006. He also handled her action against the then- president for defamation.

He is also a litigant in a dissolution of marriage case in Orange Superior Court. In October, he was granted visitation rights with his son, age 6.

Disbarred lawyer Philip James Layfield is facing a federal prosecution on multiple counts in connection with allegedly stealing his client’s funds and cheating on his taxes. The trial, repeatedly postponed, is now scheduled for Aug. 10.

 As federal investigators closed in on him on 2017, Layfield fled to Costa Rica in June of that year, was in the United States for two days in October 2017, returned to Costa Rica, and came back to the U.S. on Feb. 19, 2018. He was arrested in New Jersey one week later and was indicted here on March 9, 2018.

The prosecution began in connection with Layfield having pocketed settlement funds belonging to Josephine Nguyen, who was a client of Layfield & Barrett. She was to receive 60 percent of a $3.9 million settlement of her personal injury claim, amounting to $2.3 million.

A superseding indictment expanded the scope of the prosecution to include tax evasion and fraud for 2016 and 2017. As Layfield’s lawyer, Anthony M. Solis, summed up the charges, in a memorandum of points and authorities filed in July, the superseding indictment “alleges a broad scheme perpetrated by defendant Philip Layfield to, essentially, fleece his clients of their settlement funds, cheat attorneys out of their agreed-upon referral fees and fail to honor various tax obligations owed to the United States.”

Some of the counts have been dismissed.

The defendant was released on a $100,000 bond and is presently residing in Las Vegas.