Judge Balks at Avenatti’s Claim of Bogus Prosecution by Trump

The federal judge overseeing celebrity lawyer <-bsp-person state="{"_id":"0000016d-acf5-d12e-a36f-edf72fd10000","_type":"00000160-6f41-dae1-adf0-6ff519590003"}">Michael Avenatti’s prosecution for allegedly stealing a book advance from the porn star Stormy Daniels, his most famous client, balked at his claim that he was charged simply to please President Donald Trump.

Avenatti’s lawyer, Dean Steward, said at a hearing Oct. 8 in Manhattan that he may seek to have the case dismissed on the grounds that it was brought to settle a personal score by the president, just as he has in <-bsp-bb-link state="{"bbDocId":"PW9HFKSYF01U","_id":"0000016d-acf5-d12e-a36f-edf72fd30000","_type":"0000016b-944a-dc2b-ab6b-d57ba1cc0000"}">a related case in which Avenatti is accused of trying to extort millions of dollars from Nike Inc. ...