Most of Canada to receive emergency alert test today
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
Lawyer Michael Avenatti, who rose to fame representing porn star Stormy Daniels against Donald Trump, was sentenced in California on Monday to 14 years in prison for cheating clients out of millions of dollars.
Avenatti was also fined US$10 million by U.S. District Judge James V. Selna. The judge said Avenatti's sentence in Southern California will be served after he finishes a five-year term for separate convictions in New York.
This was the last of three major federal criminal cases to wrap up against the 51-year-old Californian. Avenatti is currently serving prison time for stealing book proceeds from Daniels -- who sued to break a confidentiality agreement with Trump to stay mum about an affair she said they had -- and for trying to extort Nike if the shoemaker didn't pay him up to US$25 million.
Avenatti pleaded guilty earlier this year to four counts of wire fraud and a tax-related charge despite not reaching a plea deal with federal prosecutors, saying he wanted to be accountable and spare his family further embarrassment. He was accused of negotiating and collecting settlement payments on behalf of his clients and funneling the money to accounts he controlled, and spending it on his own lavish lifestyle, including a private jet.
"Despite the significant advantages that this defendant had -- a first-rate education, a thriving legal career -- he chose to commit the deplorable acts in this case time and time again," prosecutor Brett Sagel told the court in Santa Ana. "The defendant is just another criminal who thinks the law is something that applies to other people."
His voice breaking, Avenatti apologized to the clients he bilked, including two who told the court about how losing the money and their trust in someone they thought had their back upended their lives.
"I am deeply remorseful and contrite," Avenatti said. "There is no doubt that all of them deserve much better, and I hope that someday they will accept my apologies and find it in their heart to forgive me."
Authorities in California said Avenatti carried out what amounted to a "sophisticated Ponzi scheme" by collecting settlement payments on behalf of vulnerable clients and using the money to fund his exorbitant lifestyle.
In one instance, prosecutors said Avenatti collected a US$2.75 million settlement payment for a client and used much of the money to buy a private airplane.
In another, he collected a US$4 million settlement from Los Angeles County for a man who suffered in-custody injuries and was left paraplegic after a suicide attempt, but never told him the money was received. Instead, authorities said Avenatti used the funds to finance his coffee business and pay personal expenses, and gave the man smaller amounts ranging from US$1,000 to US$1,900 that he called advances on the broader settlement.
The man, Geoffrey Johnson, told the court the deception was about more than money.
"I am not sure I ever can trust anyone else again," Johnson said. "I continue to have nightmares that people are out to get me. My view of humanity has certainly changed, and not for the better."
In addition to the prison sentence, Avenatti was ordered to pay more than US$7 million in restitution to his clients and more than US$3 million to the Internal Revenue Service. The government dropped all other remaining charges against Avenatti stemming from a 36-count indictment.
Authorities said the case against Avenatti started out as a civil tax issue but widened into a far-reaching criminal probe.
Avenatti, who represented himself in the proceedings, asked the court to consider the good he did as a lawyer before and aside from his crimes. He referenced helping reunite immigrant children separated from their parents by the Trump administration, and representing a rape victim while out on bail in this case. He said a lengthy sentence at his age would not give him a meaningful chance to do right by his victims or to be a father to his children.
Selna noted Avenatti had done much good in his life, but said that wasn't all.
"He has also done great evil, for which he much answer," the judge said before sentencing him. "It is now time to pay his debts to the victims, the government and society."
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
An Ontario woman said it would have been impossible to buy a house without her mother – an anecdote that animates the fact that over 17 per cent of Canadian homeowners born in the ‘90s own their property with their parents, according to a new report.
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has made headlines with his recent arrival in the U.K., this time to celebrate all things Invictus. But upon the prince landing in the U.K., we have already had confirmation that King Charles III won't have time to see his youngest son during his brief visit.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A long-simmering feud between hip-hop superstars Drake and Kendrick Lamar reached a boiling point in recent days as the pair traded increasingly personal insults on a succession of diss tracks. Here’s a quick overview of what’s behind the ongoing beef.
Canadian immigrants threatened by hostile regimes are urging parliamentarians to quickly pass the 'Countering Foreign Interference Act' so they can feel safe living in their adopted home.
An Ontario man found out that a line of credit he thought was insured actually isn't after his wife of 50 years died.
Spanish state prosecutors recommended Wednesday that an investigating judge shelve a probe into another alleged case of tax fraud by pop star Shakira.
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.