Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti heads to trial, accused of swindling Stormy Daniels

23-Jan-2022

Michael Avenatti, the disgraced celebrity lawyer and fierce Donald Trump critic, is scheduled to go on trial Monday in Manhattan for allegedly swindling ex-porn star Stormy Daniels out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Avenatti is accused of fleecing Daniels – his former client – of about $300,000 in money she stood to collect for a 2018 advance on a book about her alleged affair with Trump.

He faces one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to a federal indictment.

In August of 2018, the loudmouth lawyer forged Daniels’ signature on a letter that instructed her literary agent to forward advance money into a bank account he controlled, federal prosecutors allege.

Avenatti used the cash on day-to-day expenses, such as covering payroll for his law firm and a coffee company he owned, federal authorities allege.

He also spent the money on his luxury lifestyle, including a $3,900 monthly lease payment on a Ferrari and more than $20,000 on airfare, hotels, car services, restaurants and other expenses, the feds allege.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is expected to be called by prosecutors to testify against Avenatti at the trial, a spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said.

Opening statements are scheduled for Monday morning, but it’s unclear when Daniels will testify.

In a statement, Avenatti denied the charges against him.

“I am completely innocent of these charges. The government is spending millions of dollars to prosecute me for a case that should have never been filed,” he said.

Avenatti and Daniels rose to national fame after it was revealed Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, paid her $130,000 in hush money soon before the 2016 presidential election to keep the lid on her alleged affair with Trump.

Trump denies ever having sex with Daniels.

Avenatti built a reputation in the national media as a Trump antagonist as he represented Daniels, including in a civil suit against the former president. The 2018 suit sought to drop a nondisclosure agreement that Daniels argued was invalid because Trump never signed the document.

Avenatti even once floated a run for president during his time in the spotlight – but his star status came crashing down when he was charged in a number of criminal cases across the country.

In 2020, he was convicted in New York of trying to extort tens of millions of dollars from Nike. He’s also charged in California with bilking other clients out of money.

His trial in Manhattan federal court is expected to wrap up by Feb. 18, a spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office said.

If convicted on both counts, Avenatti faces a maximum of 22 years in prison.

>>122695

Whoops, forgot link, and just saw this was posted earlier next door...

https://nypost.com/2022/01/23/michael-avenatti-to-face-another-nyc-trial-monday-accused-of-swindling-stormy-daniels/

A historic day where leading experts in Covid gathered to express their concerns about the government’s mishandling of this health crisis. Honored to be included in the discussion.

1:57 PM · Jan 24, 2022

https://twitter.com/MdBreathe/status/1485718426278633472?s=20

Benny

@bennyjohnson

This is what school pictures look like in Oregon. Saddest shit I’ve ever seen.

4:35 PM · Jan 23, 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1485395716059054080

Neil Young demands Spotify choose between his music or Joe Rogan's podcasts

January 24, 2022

Legendary musician Neil Young issued an ultimatum to the Spotify streaming music service to choose between his music or Joe Rogan's podcasts.

Young posted an open letter to Spotify, which entered into a $100 million deal with Rogan to host his podcasts, calling on it to dump Rogan over what he saw as misinformation on the coronavirus.

“I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,” wrote Young. “Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule.”

Rogan has been criticized by many for advocating for alternate treatments for the coronavirus. In one instance, he advised younger people to avoid the vaccine because their death and hospitalization risk was so low.

“I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform,” said Young to his management team and record label. “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”

Spotify has been under pressure by those on the left to drop Rogan over his controversial statements about the coronavirus pandemic, the transgender agenda, and other topics. Some employees at Spotify reportedly threatened to organize a "full blown strike" if the company refused to censor Rogan's podcast.

Rogan has previously cautioned his adoring audience against taking his advice too seriously.

"I am not a doctor. I am a f***ing moron. And I am a cage-fighting commentator who's a dirty stand-up comedian!" Rogan said on his podcast in April.

"I am not a respected source of information even for me," he continued. "But I at least try to be honest about what I am saying."

https://www.theblaze.com/news/neil-young-rogan-spotify-covid#toggle-gdpr

Sup Yo

>Well, it looks like mandated gloves and bunny suits from here on out ...

New study says Omicron can survive 8 days on plastic, 21 hours on skin

January 25, 2022

According to a study, the highly contagious Omicron variant of Covid-19 can survive up to eight days on plastic and 21 hours on skin – a much longer period of time than other variants of concern such as Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta, as well as the original strain.

The study, which was published as a pre-print and has not yet been peer-reviewed, looked at the differences in viral environmental stability between the SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan strain and all variants of concern (VOCs).

The findings revealed that Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants had more than two-fold longer survival times on plastic and skin surfaces than the Wuhan strain and maintained infectivity for more than 16 hours on skin surfaces.

Omicron virus survived 21.1 hours on cadaver skin models, followed by Wuhan virus (8.6 hours), Gamma virus (11 hours), and Delta virus (16.8 hours).

The survival times of Alpha (19.6 hours) and Beta (19.1 hours) were discovered to be comparable.

“The Omicron variant has the highest environmental stability among VOCs,” said researchers from the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine in Japan.

“This high stability might also be one of the factors that have allowed the Omicron variant to replace the Delta variant and spread rapidly,” they said.

Furthermore, the team discovered that Omicron can survive on a plastic (polystyrene) surface for 193.5 hours (about 8 days), which is three times longer than the original strain (56 hours) and the Gamma variant (59.3 hours), and significantly longer than Delta (114 hours) and Beta (114 hours) (156.6 hours). Only the Alpha variant, with 191.3 hours of resistance, demonstrated a comparable level of resistance.

According to the researchers, the high environmental stability of these VOCs may increase the risk of contact transmission and contribute to VOC spread.

Although the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants showed a slight increase in ethanol resistance, all VOCs on the skin surface were completely inactivated after 15 seconds of exposure to alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

The researchers strongly advised using hand hygiene practises and disinfectants with appropriate alcohol concentrations, as recommended by the World Health Organization.

This study also acknowledged limitations, such as the fact that the relationship between the amount of virus remaining on the surface and the risk of transmission remains unknown at this time. As a result, the researchers believe it is reasonable to interpret the value of survival time in this study as a reference value.

https://insiderpaper.com/new-study-says-omicron-can-survive-8-days-on-plastic-21-hours-on-skin/

>>122872