Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who once represented porn star Stormy Daniels, has turned to Miami attorneys for help with his own legal troubles in New York.

Avenatti hired appellate lawyer Scott Srebnick and criminal defense attorney Jose Quinon to defend him against charges he attempted to extort millions of dollars from Nike through threats of negative publicity. Avenatti is scheduled to be arraigned on those charges today.

Avenatti, a television commentator and social media firebrand, announced his choice of defense attorneys via Twitter.

“Scott and Jose are exceptional trial lawyers and I am honored to be working with them,” he tweeted Friday. “I will enter a plea of not guilty Tuesday, and demand a jury trial.”

Avenatti also pleaded not guilty in a separate case Tuesday to charges that he stole $300,000 from Daniels. Avenatti represented Daniels in a lawsuit claiming President Donald Trump paid her thousands of dollars during the 2016 campaign to keep quiet about an affair.

Here's a look at Srebnick and Quinon, who have remained silent about their high-profile client.

|

Former prosecutor under Janet Reno

Quinon has been an attorney for more than four decades. He worked under Janet Reno when she served as state attorney in Miami. He rose from assistant state attorney to division chief, handling complex homicide and narcotics cases. Later, Quinon entered private practice and built a reputation as one of Miami's top criminal defense lawyers. His high-profile caseload included the “Miami River Cops,” who were charged with cocaine smuggling; and former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez, who was acquitted on one count of extortion while five other charges were dismissed.

|

A drug kingpin and an FBI investigation

Quinon's representation of former Medellin cartel head Carlos Lehder led the FBI to investigate him and two other attorneys in 1991 for possible obstruction of justice over their reaction to ex-parte statements from Gerald Tjoflat, then-chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

The attorneys had argued Lehder was indigent because he had no immediate access to his assets and needed court-appointed counsel.  But Tjoflat wrote a letter to several other Eleventh Circuit judges, suggesting “the trial attorneys may have been overpaid, held the excess funds in trust, and re-entered the case only when it became clear that they would be required to inform the court how much money they had received.” The attorneys responded by attempting to disqualify the entire circuit.

For nearly a month, the FBI investigated whether the lawyers “conspired to disqualify the entire Eleventh Circuit” from hearing Lehder's appeal, according to an opinion from U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which sided with Quinon in an open records fight seeking the documents compiled the agency's investigation. The panel overturned summary judgement that had been granted for the FBI and remanded the open records fight for further proceedings.

|

Personal and political scandal

Quinon also found himself in the spotlight over news reports he was having an affair and later a child with a client's wife during trial.

That client was ex-Miami City Commissioner Humberto Hernandez, who was convicted of mortgage fraud and voter fraud charges, and a federal judge at the time ordered Quinon to deposit more than $235,000 in attorney fees to help pay Hernandez's new attorney.

Quinon eventually married Hernandez's wife.

|

Click here to hear Quinon describe his law career in his own words

|

Landmark work-product case

Srebnick was the principal author of motions in SEC v. Herrera, in which his work helped clinch the ruling from a federal trial judge in Florida that a law firm waived its work-product protection when its attorneys disclosed witness interview notes and memos via “oral downloads” to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

|

2016 Most Effective Lawyer: Appellate

The award from the Daily Business Review recognized Srebnick's work with his brother, Howard, and associate Joshua Shore. The trio teamed up for a victory before the U.S. Supreme Court in Luis v. United States, arguing that defendants facing criminal charges should be able to use untainted assets to hire counsel of their choice.

Srebnick graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, according to his firm's website. The website describes him as a “lawyer's lawyer,” but he's also represented bankers and other executives facing white-collar criminal charges.

Among his notable cases: a victory as co-counsel for the sister of Indy 500 champion and “Dancing with the Stars” alum Helio Castroneves. The siblings faced tax-evasion charges in the Southern District of Florida, but Srebnick helped win their acquittal after a seven week-jury trial in Miami.

Related stories: