Michael Avenatti is now in a halfway house in the Long Beach area, transferred there from federal custody in April 2026 after serving most of his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution on Terminal Island. He remains in Bureau of Prisons custody with a projected release date of September 8, 2028. After that, he faces three years of supervised release and roughly $5.9 million in restitution to the clients and the IRS he defrauded.
Where He Is Today
In April 2026, Avenatti was moved from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles to a halfway house overseen by the Bureau of Prisons’ Long Beach Residential Reentry Management Office.1Press-Telegram. Disbarred Attorney Michael Avenatti Transferred to Long Beach Halfway House He is still a federal inmate, not a free man. Custody conditions include mental health treatment and substance-abuse restrictions.2ABA Journal. Michael Avenatti Released From Prison, Moved to Halfway House His projected release date is September 8, 2028.3Fox News. Michael Avenatti Moved to Halfway House
Before the transfer, Avenatti had served the bulk of his time at the low-security Federal Correctional Institution on Terminal Island in the Port of Los Angeles. That facility was shut down in late 2025 after falling concrete from deteriorating underground tunnels was deemed unsafe, and nearly 1,000 inmates were moved elsewhere.4CBS News. Federal Bureau of Prisons Closing Terminal Island Prison
Why He Is Still Serving Time
Avenatti was convicted in three separate federal cases. The sentences overlap in part, which is why the current release date is 2028 rather than later.
The Nike Extortion Case
In February 2020, a Manhattan jury convicted Avenatti of attempted extortion and honest services fraud for threatening to hold a damaging press conference about Nike unless the company paid his client $1.5 million and paid him personally between $15 million and $25 million for an internal investigation. Judge Paul G. Gardephe sentenced him to 30 months in July 2021, saying Avenatti had “hijacked his client’s claims” and “become drunk on the power of his platform.”5ESPN. Michael Avenatti Sentenced in Nike Extortion Case The Second Circuit affirmed the conviction in August 2023.6NY1. Court Upholds Avenatti Conviction for Plotting to Extort Nike
Stealing From Stormy Daniels
A second Manhattan jury convicted Avenatti in February 2022 of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for stealing $297,500 of Stormy Daniels’ book advance. He had sent her literary agent a fraudulent letter bearing a copy-pasted version of her signature, routing payments to an account he controlled, and told Daniels the publisher simply had not paid yet. Judge Jesse M. Furman sentenced him to 48 months, with 30 months running consecutively to the Nike sentence.7U.S. Department of Justice. Michael Avenatti Sentenced for Identity Theft and Defrauding Former Client The Second Circuit upheld the conviction in March 2024, calling the evidence “overwhelming.”8Courthouse News Service. Avenatti Loses Appeal of Fraud Conviction for Pilfering Stormy Daniels Book Advance
Client Fraud and Tax Obstruction in California
The California case was the largest. In June 2022, Avenatti pleaded guilty in federal court in Santa Ana to four counts of wire fraud and one tax-related charge, admitting he had stolen millions from four clients and obstructed the IRS in the collection of $3.2 million in payroll taxes owed by his coffee business.9Courthouse News Service. Disgraced Attorney Michael Avenatti Gets Nearly Eight More Years in Prison at Resentencing
One victim, Alexis Gardner, had been living out of her car when she hired Avenatti and later secured a $3 million settlement from a former boyfriend. Avenatti never showed her the agreement, told her the payout would arrive in installments over eight years, and used $2.5 million of her money toward his share of a $4.3 million private jet. He paid her roughly $227,500 in small installments to keep her quiet, then stopped. Makeup entrepreneur Michelle Phan hired him to handle the sale of her stake in Ipsy; Avenatti diverted $4 million from a second payment and produced a falsified wire transfer confirmation when she pressed him for the money.10U.S. Department of Justice. Lawyer Michael Avenatti Sentenced to 14 Years for Stealing Millions
Judge James V. Selna initially sentenced him to 14 years, to run consecutively to the five years he was already serving on the two New York cases.11PBS NewsHour. Michael Avenatti Sentenced to 14 Years in California Fraud Case
The Appeal That Shortened His Sentence
In October 2024, a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel vacated the 14-year California sentence. The panel found that the trial court had overstated victim losses by failing to credit the fair market value of legal services Avenatti had actually performed, and that the client fraud and the Daniels theft were part of the “same course of conduct,” so the California sentence had to account for time already served on the New York conviction.12CNN. Michael Avenatti Sentence Vacated by 9th Circuit13Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. United States v. Avenatti, No. 22-50301
On June 12, 2025, Judge Selna resentenced Avenatti to 135 months, roughly 11 years and three months, with credit for the 40 months already served on the Daniels conviction. That left about 95 months remaining. The judge said Avenatti had done “noble and good things” in prison but that his crimes represented “an abandonment of some of the most basic principles of fairness” and “great evil for which he must answer.” Gardner addressed the court and called Avenatti a “legal predator.”14Los Angeles Times. Michael Avenatti Resentenced9Courthouse News Service. Disgraced Attorney Michael Avenatti Gets Nearly Eight More Years in Prison at Resentencing
His Record Inside Prison
The Bureau of Prisons has described Avenatti’s conduct in custody as unusually clean. He kept what the agency called an “unblemished disciplinary report” and scored at the lowest risk level on every recidivism assessment. He worked as a suicide watch companion, monitoring at-risk inmates and intervening in emergencies, and received a commendatory letter from the BOP director for that role. He tutored inmates studying for the GED, mentored younger prisoners, helped others with legal matters, completed a 500-hour residential drug abuse program, and attended AA meetings and religious services.15Courthouse News Service. Michael Avenatti Defendant Sentencing Memo An April 2025 BOP progress report said he had “shown exceptional character, growth, and capacity for change.”
Disbarred in California
Avenatti was disbarred by the State of California effective February 5, 2025. The order, signed by Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, stemmed from his Nike extortion felony, which the bar classified as involving moral turpitude.16Metropolitan News-Enterprise. Avenatti Disbarment He cannot practice law in California, and nothing in the record suggests he holds an active license anywhere else.
What Happens When He Is Released
Avenatti’s September 2028 release will not end federal oversight. He faces three years of supervised release with extensive financial controls, and he owes $5,937,725.58 in restitution.
Payments have already begun at a minimum of $25 per quarter during custody and increase to at least 10 percent of his gross monthly income once supervision starts. He must give his probation officer access to all business records, financial documents, and tax filings. He cannot open lines of credit or transfer assets of more than $500 without permission. Any tax refunds, lottery winnings, inheritances, or other financial gains have to be applied to restitution. He is also subject to searches of his person, property, electronic devices, and online accounts on reasonable suspicion of a violation.17Fox News. Michael Avenatti Probation Order