Attorney Michael Avenatti made his first appearance as a criminal defendant in a California courtroom Monday, joined by a new legal team at Orange County boutique Bienert Katzman.

In two separate cases, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles and New York charged Avenatti, 48, last week with extortion and bank fraud. Federal authorities arrested Avenatti on March 25. He appeared in New York to face charges that he threatened to extort more than $20 million from athletic company Nike Inc.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles charged Avenatti with two counts, one bank fraud and the other mail fraud, alleging he embezzled a $1.6 million settlement from a client's trust account and provided false tax records to obtain $4.1 million in business loans from a bank in Mississippi.

Avenatti has not entered pleas in either case.

Outside the courtroom, after the hearing Monday, Avenatti addressed throngs of reporters. “For nearly 20 years, I have represented Davids v. Goliaths as an attorney,” he said. “Throughout the entire period, I have relied upon the justice system and the judges sitting in courthouses just like this. I will now spend the time in connection with this case, and the case in New York, relying on that same justice system that I have now subjected myself to.”

He added: “I am highly confident that when the process plays out, that justice will be served.”

Monday's hearing was the first appearance in California for Avenatti. It's also the first time that his legal team at Bienert Katzman, a boutique firm in San Clemente, California, known for high-profile white-collar criminal defense, showed up on his behalf in California.

“I understand the content of the document,” Avenatti told U.S. Magistrate Judge John Early of the Central District of California on Monday, referring to the nearly 200-page criminal complaint, affidavit and attached documents.

Avenatti waived his right to a preliminary hearing, and the judge set a post-indictment hearing for April 29. Federal prosecutors are expected to file an indictment, but Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, couldn't say whether additional charges would be forthcoming.

One of Avenatti's attorneys, John Littrell, a partner at Bienert Katzman, told the judge that Avenatti would be filing a motion to waive his appearance at the next hearing. He also said he was working with federal prosecutors to reduce the “overbroad” list of people, including potential victims and witnesses, that Avenatti now could no longer communicate with given the criminal charges.

The other Bienert Katzman partner in court was Steven Jay Katzman, a former federal prosecutor who handles bankruptcy and bank fraud matters.

Also in court were federal prosecutors Julian André, of the major frauds section of the Central District U.S. Attorney's Office, and Brett Sager of the Santa Ana, California, branch office.

Avenatti is best known for representing Stephanie Clifford, the adult film actress performing as Stormy Daniels, who filed a lawsuit claiming she was paid thousands of dollars during the 2016 presidential campaign to keep quiet about a sexual affair with Donald Trump.

According to the criminal complaint in the California case against Avenatti, charges stem from years of Avenatti's alleged failure to pay corporate payroll taxes, beginning in 2015. In an affidavit, a special agent with the Internal Revenue Service's criminal division outlined a series of steps Avenatti used to avoid paying taxes, including transferring funds. The affidavit, however, said Avenatti “lived lavishly,” spending thousands of dollars at Neiman Marcus and $100,000 on monthly rent in Newport Beach.

Avenatti's law firm, Eagan Avenatti, filed for bankruptcy in 2017.

Prosecutors allege Avenatti, now of Avenatti & Associates, was supposed to pay his client $1.6 million in funds from a settlement by Jan. 20, 2018, but instead provided documents showing a false payment date of March 10, 2018.  Avenatti then used the settlement money to pay expenses for his coffee business, Global Baristas US LLC, which operated Tully's Coffee stores in Washington and California.

Avenatti still hasn't paid the client his settlement funds, according to federal prosecutors.

Prosecutors also alleged Avenatti defrauded The Peoples Bank in Mississippi to obtain three loans for his law firm and coffee business in 2014. He allegedly provided fake individual income tax returns for 2011, 2012 and 2013, stating annual income of between $4 million and $5.4 million and payments to the IRS of $1.6 million in 2012 and $1.25 million in 2013. But Avenatti, according to the complaint, never filed personal income tax returns during those years or made tax payments in 2012 and 2013 and, instead, owed $850,438 in back taxes. He also allegedly provided a fake partnership tax return for his law firm.

Avenatti faces up to 50 years in federal prison if convicted on both counts.

In New York, prosecutors in New York allege that Avenatti and an unnamed co-conspirator, identified in press reports as plaintiffs attorney Mark Geragos, told Nike representatives at a meeting this month that his client, a basketball coach in California, had evidence its employees had made payments to top high-school basketball players. Avenatti threatened to publicize the allegations unless Nike paid him more than $20 million, plus hire both of them to conduct an internal investigation.

The next hearing in the New York case is set for April 25.