Michael Avenatti charged for attempting to extort more than $20 million from Nike

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Michael Avenatti has been charged with attempting to extort more than $20 million from Nike.
According to a charging document from the Southern District of New York, Avenatti attempted to extract the money by "threatening to use his ability to garner publicity to inflict substantial financial & reputational harm on the company if his demands were not met."

New York federal prosecutors have charged the celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti with attempting to extort more than $20 million from Nike.

Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York said in a charging document that Avenatti tried to get the money by "threatening to use his ability to garner publicity to inflict substantial financial & reputational harm on the company if his demands were not met."

News of Avenatti’s indictment came just after he posted a tweet saying that he would be holding a press conference Tuesday 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 a court filing, an FBI agent wrote that Avenatti said he would hold a press conference alleging misconduct at Nike unless he and another lawyer were paid between $15 million and $25 million to conduct an internal investigation, or were given $22.5 million to resolve their client’s claims and in exchange for their silence.

"Full confidentiality, we ride off into the sunset," Avenatti allegedly told a Nike representative, according to the FBI agent.

Avenatti then allegedly went on to share what he would do if Nike didn’t comply with his demands. According to the charging document, he said, "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 people — 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," Avenatti allegedly said.

Shortly after the initial charges were unsealed, the Justice Department said law enforcement officials will announce "details of new criminal charges against attorney Michael Avenatti … who faces federal charges of wire fraud and bank fraud in the Central District of California."

Avenatti rose to fame over the last year for representing the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, who sued President Donald Trump to get out of a nondisclosure agreement she signed regarding an affair she claims she had with him in the 2000s.

Daniels’ lawsuit was central to a separate Manhattan US attorney’s office investigation into Trump’s and his former lawyer Michael Cohen’s business dealings before the 2016 US election.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.

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