Federal prosecutors in California won’t seek to have Michael Avenatti locked up without bail when he appears in court next week — despite filing court papers that said they would, a spokesman said Tuesday.
Los Angeles US Attorney’s Office spokesman Ciaran McEvoy said the feds were satisfied with the “current circumstances” in which a magistrate judge in Manhattan allowed Avenatti to be released on a $300,000 bond Monday night.
That move followed the arrest of porn star Stormy Daniels’ former lawyer in an attempted $20 million-plus shakedown of Nike.
McEvoy said court papers unsealed Tuesday — in which his office called Avenatti a “serious risk” to the public — were filed last week “in order to retain our ability to seek detention if appropriate.”
In addition to the extortion charges involving Nike, Avenatti faces charges in the Golden State, where the feds say he stole a client’s $1.6 million settlement and scammed $4.1 million in loans from a Mississippi bank.
Avenatti is scheduled to appear on those charges in Santa Ana federal court on Monday, and the document filed by prosecutors in that case says he should be tossed in jail to await trial.
The five-page, check-off form says that “no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure” both “the appearance of the defendant as required” and the “safety of any other person and the community.”
Prosecutors also said they’re entitled to a hearing on the request because there’s a “serious risk” Avenatti will flee and also “obstruct or attempt to obstruct justice” or “threaten, injure or intimidate prospective witness or juror, or attempt to do so.”
Court records don’t identify a defense lawyer representing Avenatti in California.
He was represented Monday night by a pair of court-appointed lawyers from the Federal Defenders of New York.



