High-profile attorney Michael Avenatti pleaded not guilty Monday, April 29, to federal fraud and embezzlement charges during a brief hearing at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana.

Avenatti – best known for representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her legal battles against President Donald Trump and for his own one-time presidential ambitions – formally denied the charges that were laid out earlier this month in a 36-count grand jury indictment.

Avenatti attended the hearing without the private attorneys who joined him during his last criminal court appearance in Southern California. He initially told the judge he was in the process of “finalizing an agreement with private counsel.” He agreed to allow a federal public defender temporarily represent him.

Asked to enter his plea, Avenatti, standing with his hands clasped behind his back, replied, “Not guilty to all charges.”

After the hearing, Avenatti declined to speak to reporters as he quickly exited the courthouse, referring them to a statement he posted earlier in the day on Twitter.

“The right to a presumption of innocence and the right to a jury trial are two fundamental rights that our founding fathers demanded when this country was formed over 200 years ago,” Avenatti wrote in his statement. “As a citizen of this country, I am entitled to both, I expect both and I demand both. We don’t convict someone in America based on a one-sided argument and a press conference. Even when he is one of the biggest enemies of the president and his son.”

Avenatti, a Century City resident, came to the public’s attention while representing Daniels, who alleged that she had an affair with the president prior to the 2016 election and was paid hush money. Avenatti has continually faced allegations from a former partner and a former client that he hid money to avoid paying them what he owed.

In early April, Avenatti was charged in two separate federal cases, accused of wire and bank fraud in Southern California and of extortion in New York after allegedly trying to shake down Nike for millions of dollars.

An indictment related to the Southern California charges alleges that Avenatti 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. Federal authorities have seized a Honda jet that they allege was purchased, in part, from money Avenatti is accused of embezzling from a client.

Prosecutors have alleged that their investigation into Avenatti’s finances uncovered a “tangled web of financial lies” in order to “fund a lavish lifestyle that had no limits.” Nick Hanna, a U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, has said that Avenatti’s conduct violated the principles of “lawyer 101 – do not steal your clients’ money.”

Avenatt’s trial in Santa Ana was tentatively scheduled for June 25. He was also ordered to set a hearing within the next several weeks to inform the court about the status of his legal representation.