This is the property of the Daily Journal Corporation and fully protected by copyright. It is made available only to Daily Journal subscribers for personal or collaborative purposes and may not be distributed, reproduced, modified, stored or transferred without written permission. Please click "Reprint" to order presentation-ready copies to distribute to clients or use in commercial marketing materials or for permission to post on a website. and copyright (showing year of publication) at the bottom.
Subscribe to the Daily Journal for access to Daily Appellate Reports, Verdicts, Judicial Profiles and more...

Law Practice,
Appellate Practice

Jun. 14, 2022

Avenatti filed own plea change, didn’t tell counsel which counts

“He himself drafted it out at Terminal Island,” said H. Dean Steward of Newport Beach, referring to the federal prison in San Pedro. “I pretty much filed it as it came from him. It’s kind of an unusual situation that I’m advisory counsel only. He represents himself.”

Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti drafted his own 64-page filing attempting to get a lighter sentence by pleading guilty to stealing only around $5 million, not $12 million of his clients’ money through wire fraud, his advisory counsel said Monday.

“The filing itself he drafted, and he sent it to me,” H. Dean Steward of Newport Beach, who has advised Avenatti in his self-defense against federal criminal charges, said in a phone interview...

To continue reading, please subscribe.
For only $95 a month (the price of 2 article purchases)
Receive unlimited article access and full access to our archives,
Daily Appellate Report, award winning columns, and our
Verdicts and Settlements.
Or
$795 for an entire year!

Or access this article for $45
(Purchase provides 7-day access to this article. Printing, posting or downloading is not allowed.)

Already a subscriber?

Enewsletter Sign-up