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Michael Avenatti

Michael Avenattis latest bid for a new trial puts a new spin on the fallen lawyers former slogan Fight Club.

Slated to be sentenced on Friday for extorting Nike, Avenatti now claims that he deserves a new trial because prosecutors did not disclose the fact that one of the key witnesses against him at his original trial feared for her life. Thats because according to Avenatti she read a decades-old conspiracy theory about Bill and Hillary Clinton. The witness, Judy Regnier, was a former office manager at Avenattis law firm, and prosecutors called her to establish a financial motive to shake down the sportswear giant.

Just two weeks before Avenattis trial, Regnier told an FBI agent that she felt threatened by a tweet speculating that the celebrity lawyer might harm her, according to a defense filing made public late on Monday night.

Ms. Regnier felt threatened after reading, She better be careful, she might end like a Clinton witness, desperate man desperate measures,' Avenattis lawyer Benjamin Silverman wrote in a footnote of a three-page letter which recapped the witnesss alleged fears. The term Clinton witness references a decades-old conspiracy theory, also known as the Clinton Body Count, promoted by President Trump and others, that President Clinton and Secretary Clinton arranged to kill individuals with damaging or incriminating information against them.

Avenatti claims federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York never disclosed Regniers statement to him before his trial, which he now argues he would have used to have undermine her credibility.

It establishes a clear bias and also evidences a motive to have Mr. Avenatti convicted and incarcerated, the defense letter states. It also raises significant credibility issues. Evidence that impeaches a government witness . . . is generally called Brady material.'

The watershed Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland established in 1963 that prosecutors must disclose information that might be helpful to a criminal defense. Avenatti claims federal prosecutors in New York failed to do so and that California prosecutors provided Regniers statements to him for the first time in advance of a separate trial there accusing him of defrauding former clients of millions of dollars.

The government also concedes that it deliberately withheld, and continues to withhold, handwritten notes from meetings with Regnier during at least one of which she was asked about Nike and during at least two of which she was asked about Mr. Avenattis financial condition, the defense letter states. Ms. Regnier was one of only a handful of witnesses to testify for the government at trial and the government elicited testimony from her about both issues.

On Feb. 6, 2020, Regnier testified that Avenatti saw the plan to pressure Nike to pay millions to cover up their correction scandal as a light at the end of tunnel for his financial woes. Prosecutors claimed that he was $15 million in debt at the time and that he demanded at least that much money from Nike.

If Judge Gardephe denies his motion for a new trial in the Nike case, Avenatti wants him to order a hearing as to why certain witness statements were not produced.

In a recent sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe to deal Avenatti a very substantial sentence. Though the government did not define that phrase, the probation office proposed an eight-year sentence, which dips below the 11.25-to-14-year guideline range. Prosecutors signaled their agreement with the probation office.

Seeking a maximum six-month sentence, Avenattis lawyers claim that their clients spectacular fall from star of the cable news networks to thrice-prosecuted federal criminal defendant is punishment enough.

Avenattis epic fall and public shaming has played out in front of the entire world, defense attorneys Scott A. Srebnick and E. Danya Perry argued in a sentencing memorandum in early June.

Whatever the outcome of his sentencing on Friday, Avenatti will continue to face criminal exposure in two separate jurisdictions. In addition to his pending case in California, Avenatti also faces a third prosecution in the Southern District of New York. Hes accused there of defrauding his most famous client: adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

Read Avenattis latest defense filing below:

[image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images]

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Michael Avenatti Wants a New Trial Because Ex-Employee Who Testified Against Him Feared Winding Up Like a Clinton Witness - Law & Crime