Michael Avenatti. Photo: David Handschuh/ALM

A new attorney for Michael Avenatti, the disgraced California attorney convicted earlier this month of extorting Nike Inc., said he plans to make Stormy Daniels' credibility a central issue in an upcoming trial on charges that he stole from the adult film star and one-time client.

Thomas Warren, a partner with Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht, said Avenatti's defense team would challenge inconsistent statements that Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, had made about her relationship with Avenatti, as well as money that she supposedly owed him for legal work he did on her behalf.

"I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to cross-examine Stormy Daniels in a million years," Warren told reporters after a hearing Tuesday afternoon in Manhattan federal court.

"It isn't a documents case, really. It's a case about the credibility of Stormy Daniels," he said.

The comments followed Avenatti's first court appearance after a Manhattan federal jury convicted him Feb. 14 in a separate scheme to shake down Nike Inc. for $15 million and $25 million. Sentencing in that case has been scheduled for July.

Clark Brewster, an Oklahoma attorney who represents Daniels, said there were months of texts between his client and Avenatti to corroborate the government's allegations, and he said the suggestion that Daniels owed Avenatti money was "preposterous."

"I guess that's a better defense than making [Avenatti's] credibility a central issue," Brewster said in a phone interview. "That didn't work the last time."

"I guess that's off the table, so now he wants to attack her. Good luck with that," he said.

Avenatti rose to national prominence thanks in large part to his representation of Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump, whom she accused of engaging in an extramarital affair. Trump has repeatedly denied ever having a sexual liaison with Daniels.

Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York last year charged Avenatti with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for allegedly stealing nearly $300,000 from a book advance that was being paid to Daniels for her memoir "Full Disclosure."

According to the May 22 indictment, Avenatti forged Daniels' name on a letter he sent to her literary agent, and instructed that two payments be sent to a bank account under Avenatti's control. Prosecutors alleged that Daniels did not know about the bank account, and said half of the diverted sum has yet to be repaid.

Avenatti, who was formerly represented by San Clemente, California-based attorney H. Dean Steward, lost his bid in September to have the case moved to a federal court in California, where he is also charged in a sprawling indictment with stealing millions of dollars from unsuspecting clients and filing false tax returns. Trial in that case is expected to begin in May.

Avenatti has been held in Manhattan's Metropolitan Correctional Center since a California federal judge ruled in mid-January that he had violated the terms of his pretrial release. Attorneys for Avenatti had complained that he was being held in the jail's secure housing unit, where he had limited access to his attorneys and was kept in lockdown for 23 hours per day.

Since his conviction, Warren said Avenatti has been moved to the general population at MCC, where the conditions are less onerous and he is allowed more time outside of his cell.

Avenatti appeared Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman of the Southern District of New York wearing a light blue shirt and dark-colored pants. He was escorted to and from the courtroom by U.S. Marshals, with shackles around his feet and hands.

Asked by Furman whether they still expected to take the case to trial in light of Avenatti's recent conviction, attorneys for the defense and prosecution said that little had changed.

Responding to a question from a reporter after the hearing, Warren said, "It's my job to always be prepared for trial, and that's what I plan to do."

Furman has inherited the case from the late Judge Deborah A. Batts, who died suddenly earlier this month. Furman said the he would stick with the "firm" April 21 trial date Batts had scheduled in the case.

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