Convicted attorney Michael Avenatti asked a California judge to delay his looming trial on federal charges of defrauding clients, arguing the jury pool was likely tainted by negative media coverage he received after being sentenced last week in a separate case in New York.

U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss in Manhattan issued a scathing press release about Avenatti after he was sentenced to 2 1/2 years for trying to extort Nike Inc., even with jury selection imminent in his next trial, his lawyer H. Dean Steward said in a filing Monday in federal court in Santa Ana.

“Within 15 minutes of the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, the government, knowing that jury selection was scheduled to begin in this case within days, issued and distributed an inflammatory press release, which detailed Mr. Avenatti’s conviction and sentencing and was highly critical of Mr. Avenatti,” Steward said. The move “constitutes a significant and purposeful interference with Mr. Avenatti’s constitutional rights.”

Jury selection in the California trial is scheduled to start Tuesday, with opening statements from the government expected July 20. Steward asked for the trial to be delayed until Oct. 12.

Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York, declined to comment.

Avenatti, who gained a large Twitter following in 2018 while representing adult film star Stormy Daniels in a suit against then-President Donald Trump, also complained that potential jurors might have been swayed by tweets posted by numerous verified Twitter users last week. His filing included a sample of tweets from accounts with more than 26 million combined followers.

And he said coverage on Fox News, where he was referred to in recent days as a “slimeball,” “total fraud” and “shady hustler,” added to the negative publicity.

“Because of Mr. Avenatti’s role as a staunch and outspoken critic of former President Trump and his feud with Fox News, which began in early 2018 when the network began calling Mr. Avenatti the ‘Creepy Porn Lawyer,’ Fox News in particular has made it a point over the last four days to repeatedly broadcast details of Mr. Avenatti’s conviction and prison sentence, gloat and mock him to their millions of viewers, including in Orange County.”

Fox News didn’t immediately repsond to a message seeking comment.

The case is U.S. v. Avenatti, 8:19-cr-061, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Santa Ana).