Michael Avenatti has again asked a Manhattan federal judge to transfer his pending criminal case to California, where he is also under federal indictment, arguing that complications from the COVID-19 pandemic made it impractical to proceed with separate trials on two coasts.

The embattled celebrity attorney, who was convicted in February of trying to extort Nike Inc., on Thursday renewed his bid to transfer the case charging him with stealing money from his former client, adult-film star Stormy Daniels, from New York to Los Angeles.