Names and faces
■ Michael Avenatti, the former attorney for adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, was arrested after violating bail by committing multiple state and federal crimes while awaiting trial in two states, U.S. prosecutors said in a court document released Wednesday. Avenatti was arrested by IRS agents at a state bar court hearing, where he was facing suspension of his license to practice over allegations that he stole from a client, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. Court documents lay out the allegations of several schemes orchestrated by Avenatti to hide his assets from creditors and continue to live a lavish lifestyle amid debts surpassing $10 million. “Defendant’s extensive pattern of criminal conduct and the overwhelming evidence supporting those charges demonstrate that defendant is a substantial danger to the community,” prosecutors wrote in a court document. “If allowed to remain on bond, defendant will almost certainly continue to engage in further fraudulent and obstructive conduct.” Avenatti is scheduled for trial next week in federal court in Manhattan, N.Y., on charges that he extorted Nike for up to $25 million. He has pleaded innocent in that case. He also faces a May trial in Los Angeles on charges that he defrauded clients of millions of dollars. He has pleaded innocent to those charges, as well.
■ Ken Jennings won his third match in the Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time contest televised on Tuesday, an event that’s been a prime-time hit for ABC. He pocketed $1 million by dispatching James Holzhauer, who won one match, and Brad Rutter, who came up empty. Jennings took a strong lead in the first game of Tuesday’s match by borrowing a strategy popularized by Holzhauer, twice betting all of his points on a “Daily Double” and winning. He signaled his intention by imitating the gesture of a poker player pushing all of his chips to the center of the table. In a “Final Jeopardy” question about Greece, Jennings bet all 32,800 of his points on the clue: “This area of Greece, home to Pan, is synonymous with a rural paradise; it’s a setting for Virgil’s shepherd poems the Ecologues.” He correctly answered, “What is Arcadia?” Holzhauer was leading in the second game of the match, where the “Final Jeopardy” question asked the competitors to identify the non-title character in a Shakespearean tragedy with the most speeches. Jennings correctly answered, “Who is Iago?” But he bet none of his points. That left an opening for Holzhauer to take the match if he bet all of his points and got it right. He bet all of his points but answered, “Who is Horatio?” At the end, Holzhauer and Rutter hoisted Jennings on their shoulders in honor.