‘I’m not f—ing around’: Prosecutors outlined brazen details on how Michael Avenatti allegedly attempted to extort more than $20 million from Nike

Michael Owen Baker/AP

New York prosecutors on Monday accused attorney Michael Avenatti of attempting to extort Nike for over $20 million.
Prosecutors laid out the details in charging documents. Avenatti threatened to make damning information about the company public, and wanted money in exchange for silence, the prosecutors alleged.
Avenatti repeatedly said "I’m not f—ing around" as he spoke with lawyers representing Nike, according to the documents.

Attorney Michael Avenatti allegedly tried to extort Nike for over $20 million, and New York prosecutors laid out the details in charging documents filed on Monday.

Avenatti threatened to "use his ability to garner publicity to inflict substantial financial & reputational harm on the company if his demands were not met," according to the documents.

The charges were made public shortly after Avenatti tweeted he would hold a press conference on Tuesday morning to "disclose a major high school/college basketball scandal perpetrated by @Nike that we have uncovered. This criminal conduct reaches the highest levels of Nike and involves some of the biggest names in college basketball."

In the charging documents, prosecutors said that during a March 21 meeting Avenatti told lawyers representing Nike, "If [Nike] wants to have one confidential settlement and we’re done, they can buy that for twenty-two and half million dollars and we’re done. . . . Full confidentiality, we ride off into the sunset."

Avenatti reportedly then added:

I just wanna share with you what’s gonna happen, if we don’t reach a resolution. As soon as this becomes public, I am going to receive calls from all over the country from parents and coaches and friends and all kinds of — this is always what happens — and they are all going to say I’ve got an email or a text message or — now, 90% of that is going to be bullshit because it’s always bullshit 90% of the time, always, whether it’s R. Kelly or Trump, the list goes on and on — but 10% of it is actually going to be true, and then what’s going to happen is that this is going to snowball…and every time we got more information, that’s going to be the Washington Post, the New York Times, ESPN, a press conference, and the company will die — not die, but they are going to incur cut after cut after cut after cut, and that’s what’s going to happen as soon as this thing becomes public.

He allegedly asked the Nike lawyers whether they’d ever "held the balls of the client in your hand where you could take five to six billion dollars market cap off of them."

Avenatti’s contacts with lawyers representing Nike began around March 19, according to the New York prosecutors, and said he had a client with "evidence that one or more Nike employees had authorized and funded payments to the families of top high school basketball players and/or their families and attempted to conceal those payments, similar to conduct involving a rival company that had recently been the subject of a criminal prosecution in this District."

The court documents went on to say that Avenatti claimed he would hold a press conference on the evidence and that it could hurt Nike’s market value at a significant time for the company — during the NCAA basketball tournament.

Avenatti’s client is a coach of an Amateur Athletic Union men’s basketball program in California who had a sponsorship agreement with Nike that gave the program roughly $72,000 per year, according to the charging documents.

In his earlier contacts with Nike lawyers, Avenatti allegedly said he would not go forward with the press conference if the company agreed to pay him and the client a multi-million dollar settlement under the guise of legal work.

Avenatti appeared to get frustrated as the deliberations continued, and in one phone call with Nike’s lawyers reportedly said, "I’m not f—ing around with this, and I’m not continuing to play games … You guys know enough now to know you’ve got a serious problem. And it’s worth more in exposure to me to just blow the lid on this thing."

According to prosecutors, Avenatti went on to say:

A few million dollars doesn’t move the needle for me. I’m just being really frank with you. So if that’s…what’s being contemplated, then let’s just say it was good to meet you, and we’re done. And I’ll proceed with my press conference tomorrow…Im not f—ing around with this thing anymore.

If you guys think that you know, we’re gonna negotiate a million five, and you’re gonna hire us to do an internal investigation, but it’s gonna be capped at 3 or 5 or 7 million dollars, like let’s just be done…And I’ll go and I’ll go take ten billion dollars off your client’s market cap. But I’m not f—ing around.

Avenatti has frequently been in headlines over the past year or so in relation to his representation of Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who said she had an affair with President Donald Trump. Avenatti and Daniels cut ties earlier this month.

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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (John Haltiwanger)