Avenatti pleads guilty to fraud, tax charges in California

Incarcerated lawyer Michael Avenatti pleaded guilty Thursday to four counts of wire fraud and a tax-related charge in a federal court case in Southern California accusing him of stealing millions of dollars from his clients. Avenatti, who is in federal custody and representing himself in the case, made the plea during a court hearing in Santa Ana where he acknowledged cheating his clients but disagreed with federal prosecutors on how much.

“I misappropriated and misused certain of their settlement funds,” Avenatti told the court, but added he believes the amount owed in restitution is “drastically less” than the $9 million stated by the government. Prosecutors said the plea — which the the 51-year-old lawyer offered without a deal — subjects Avenatti to as many as 83 years in prison.

Police: Amazon fisherman confesses to killing missing men

A fisherman confessed to killing a British journalist and an Indigenous expert in Brazil’s remote Amazon region and took police to a site where human remains were recovered, a federal investigator said after a grim 10-day search for the missing pair. Authorities said they expected to make more arrests in the case of freelance reporter Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira of Brazil, who disappeared June 5. None had been made as of Thursday, but police said a search for the boat the two had used was restarting.

They gave no immediate explanation of a motive for the killing, but officials earlier suggested that Pereira’s work to stop illegal fishing in an Indigenous reserve had angered local fishermen. Two federal police officials in the capital, Brasilia, told The Associated Press on Thursday that a total of five people were being investigated, including the fisherman who confessed and his brother who was detained Tuesday as a suspect.

Recount underway between Texas Rep. Cuellar, Cisneros

A recount was underway Thursday in a Texas primary race between Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros following their tight runoff in May. Before the recount, Cuellar had been leading Cisneros by 187 votes, or 0.4 percentage points, out of 45,429 ballots counted as of last week, according to an Associated Press count. It was not clear Thursday when the recount would be finished.

5 former fraternity members sentenced in hazing death

Three former fraternity members were sentenced Thursday to jail terms for their roles in the hazing death of a Bowling Green State University student, while two others were ordered to serve house arrest.

The sentences stem from the March 2021 death of Stone Foltz, 20, a sophomore from Delaware, Ohio. Authorities have said Foltz died of alcohol poisoning after a fraternity initiation event in which he was hazed into finishing an entire bottle of alcohol. He was found unconscious by a roommate after members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity dropped him off at his apartment. Foltz died three days after he was put on life support.

Jarrett Prizel, 19 of Olean, N.Y., was sentenced to 28 days in jail and two years’ probation. Daylen Dunson, 22, of Cleveland, received a 21-day jail term and three years of probation, while Niall Sweeney, 21, of Erie, Pa., was given a 14-day jail sentence and two years of probation. All three were also sentenced to serve 28 days of house arrest. Ben Boyers, 21, of Sylvania, Ohio, and Aaron Lehane, 21. of Loveland, Ohio, were each sentenced to 28 days of house arrest and two years’ probation.

— The Associated Press