Michael Avenatti’s attorneys want him moved out of his jail cell — which may have been used by El Chapo — because it’s freezing and the conditions are hampering his defense, the attorneys wrote to a judge Monday.
Avenatti became a household name as the attorney for Stormy Daniels when the adult film star sued President Donald Trump.
Since then, federal prosecutors in New York and California have charged Avenatti with a spate of financial crimes, including allegations of fraud, embezzlement and trying to extort Nike for millions of dollars.
Avenatti was jailed without bond last week until his trial for probable violations of his pretrial conditions, including allegedly hiding his assets to defraud creditors.
He is being held in New York’s Metropolitan Correction Center (MCC). According to his attorneys’ letter to US District Judge Paul G. Gardephe, Avenatti “has been locked down for 24 hours a day, in solitary confinement, except for attorney visits and two medical exams.”
“He is in a cell reportedly once occupied by El Chapo, on a floor that houses individuals charged with terrorism offenses,” the letter reads.
“The temperature in his cell feels like it is in the mid-40s. He is forced to sleep with three blankets. Not surprisingly, he has been having great difficulty functioning.”
Read the letter from Avenatti’s attorneys
The attorneys also say they were required to meet with him during a non-contact visit — separated by a partition– which made it difficult for him to review documents in the case, without help from guards transporting documents into his section.
“Although the officers allowed Mr. Avenatti to review a document at our request at the beginning of our visit, if we wanted him to review any additional documents, it would have required us to disturb the busy officers and have them repeatedly transfer documents back and forth,” the letter reads.
The attorneys are asking for Avenatti to be moved to the general inmate population of the jail, where he would have the same ability to confer with counsel. The current situation, they say, “is truly hampering our ability to prepare for trial.”
The attorneys also want Avenatti to be allowed to keep legal materials in his cell; have access to a computer, like other pretrial detainees, to review legal material; have contact legal visits in the regular attorney visiting room; and have the same social call privileges as general population detainees so he can communicate with his family to help make arrangements with third parties to fund his defense.
Last April, in a wide-ranging interview with CNN, Avenatti said he’s “been humbled significantly” in the face of his legal troubles.
“There’s been a lot of highs and there’s been a lot of lows, and, frankly, I’ve attempted not to get too high,” he said at the time. “Sometimes I’ve failed, but I’ve attempted not to get too high. Right now I’m trying not to get too low.”
