Avenatti Laments Rats, No Soap, Virus Fear While Locked Up (1)

Convicted celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti is lamenting the conditions at the Manhattan jail where he’s locked up, which he says include a rat infestation, lack of soap and a ban on alcohol-based hand sanitizers amid a deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Avenatti, who was found guilty last month of trying to extort millions of dollars from Nike Inc., has only been permitted to take two showers in the last 12 days and hasn’t shaved in weeks, his lawyer Scott Srebnick said in a letter Wednesday to U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe. Inmates have also been denied hot meals, and the entire jail reeks of urine, he said.

Srebnick asked Gardephe to postpone a pre-sentencing interview Thursday at the jail that he planned to attend, citing the spreading virus and the disease it causes, Covid-19. “By all accounts, a prison facility poses among the highest risks of spread of infection,” said Srebnick, who is based in Miami.

Michael Avenatti exits from federal court in New York, U.S., on Tuesday, May 28, 2019.

Louis Lanzano/Bloomberg

The Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, where Avenatti is housed, returned to normal operations Wednesday, including a regular schedule for showers for inmates, spokeswoman Nancy Ayers said in a statement.

“The inmate population has been receiving hot meals regularly,” she said. “Inmates are encouraged to wash their hands frequently with soap and water in accordance with Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance. There is no shortage of hand soap for either staff or inmates.”

Ayers said there are no known cases of Covid-19 among the inmates at this time.

Avenatti is scheduled to be sentenced June 17.

He gained a national profile while representing the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and faces a second criminal trial in Manhattan in April. In that case, he’s accused of stealing Daniels’s book advance. He’s denied wrongdoing.

Read More: Avenatti Faces Years in Prison After Verdict in Nike Case

(Updates with comment from prison spokeswoman)

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Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net

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David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net

Joe Schneider, Anthony Lin

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