Judge Deborah A. Batts, SDNY, bench slapps Avenatti

Attorney Michael Avenatti is not simply facing disbarment in California. He is facing a 36 count felony indictment pending in the CDCA, A felony case pending in the SDNY alleging various counts arising out of his demand to Nike that it pay him $15M to forestall a press conference in 24-hours that will "take $10 BILLION off of your market cap," and he is facing a two count indictment alleging that he forged Stormy Daniels signature in a scheme to divert $300,000 of her book royalties to Avenatti (which he subsequently spent on, among other things, Ferrari payments).

Avenatti has a motion to continue the Nike extortion case pending, which case is currently set for trial. Avenatti also filed a motion to transfer the Stormy Daniels prosecution to the CDCA in the hopes that it can be consolidated with the pending 36 count felony case pending there thus gaining a de facto  continuance - because the California prosecution is set for trial in May, 2020.

Judge Deborah Batts denied the motion, and did so in a style.

I reprint footnote 5 from the order in its entirety:

Defendant’s legal representation history in this case is unusual. In his first appearance before this Court, he had a Federal Defender but sought to have an attorney based in Florida, who had not filed a notice of appearance, to represent him solely for the purpose of filing this instant Motion. That was denied. Defendant then chose to hire an attorney from California even though the charges relate to alleged crimes committed here. Thus, to move to transfer because his attorney is from California is strikingly similar to a defendant who kills both his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the Court because he is an orphan. 

Related: Listen to Stormy Daniels rip Michael Avenatti for his 640 text messages assuring her that the publisher was failing to pay her when in fact he was spending  her money.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/taking-the-world-by-stormy-season-1/id1479807020