Supreme Court turns down Michael Avenatti’s appeal of Stormy Daniels identity theft conviction 

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti’s appeal of his aggravated identity theft conviction for stealing book proceeds from porn actor Stormy Daniels. 

A jury in 2022 found Avenatti guilty of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for stealing close to $300,000 that Daniels was set to receive for her book, “Full Disclosure,” which includes details of her claimed affair with former President Trump. Avenatti was sentenced to 48 months in prison. 

Trump denies any affair, but a hush money payment his then-fixer made to Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election in exchange for her silence became the center of Trump’s New York criminal trial that resulted in the first conviction of a former president this spring. 

Avenatti’s petition latched onto a Supreme Court decision issued last year narrowing the scope of aggravated identity theft. He argued that a lower court, in upholding his conviction, adopted a “novel standard” when applying the high court decision. 

“This petition presents a clean vehicle for this Court to nip a circuit split in the bud,” Avenatti’s public defender wrote in his petition. 

Federal prosecutors opted not to respond to the petition. 

Tuesday’s brief order declining to hear Avenatti’s appeal is the second time the Supreme Court has done so this year. 

In May, the high court similarly turned away Avenatti’s appeal of his conviction for plotting to extort up to $25 million from Nike. 

And as he did before, Justice Brett Kavanaugh recused himself from considering Avenatti’s petition Tuesday.

Kavanaugh did not publicly explain his recusal, which two of the nine justices now do after a recent change began giving them the option. Avenatti had represented a woman who accused Kavanaugh during his confirmation process of sexual misconduct, which he denies. 

The Hill reached out to Avenatti’s public defender for comment.