Disgraced celebrity attorney Michael Avenatti finds himself in solitary confinement at New York City’s Metropolitan Corrections Center, the same facility that housed narco-terrorist El Chapo during his trial and Jeffrey Epstein until his death.
Avenatti’s legal team is none too pleased and has filed a complaint with Manhattan judge Paul Gardephe. (Daily Wire)
The lawyer also complains that Avenatti has not been given the opportunity for phone calls, and that the temperature of his jail cell has made it so uncomfortable that he has “great difficulty functioning.”
“Mr. Avenatti was permitted two social calls upon arriving at the facility, but none since. He was told that his classification entitles him to one pre-scheduled social call per month,” continues the complaint. “The temperature in his cell feels like it is in the mid-40s. He is forced to sleep with three blankets.”
According to the letter, Avenatti’s legal team doesn’t understand why Avenatti has been placed in the special housing unit, the jail’s most secure floor, and wants him given access to materials and services that will allow him to prepare for trial, saying that the current “situation is truly hampering our ability to prepare for trial.”
According to CNBC, Gardephe responded sympathetically Tuesday to the letter filed by Avenatti’s legal team, saying that prosecutors had to explain why exactly they decided to toss Avenatti into the housing unit usually reserved for people accused of terrorism and drug trafficking.
The warden argues that Avenatti is in a special unit “for his own safety,” because of his notoriety.
Avenatti continues to deny allegations that he ruthlessly scammed his clients out of millions and tried to extort the athletics powerhouse Nike.