Anti-Trump Lawyer Avenatti Charged for Trying to Extort $20 Million from Nike
Stormy Daniels' former attorney threatened inflict harm on the company's reputation
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Michael Avenatti has been charged with attempting to extort $20 Million from a publicly traded company according to court papers filed on Monday by the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
Avenatti, a high profile 'Anti Trump' lawyer and Stormy Daniels' former attorney, attempted to extract $20M in payments from Nike by threatening to use his powers to 'accumulate publicity' to inflict harm on the company's financial reputation if it did not meet his demands.
The charges were brought against Avenatti were announced shortly after he tweeted:
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'Tmrw at 11 am ET; we will be holding a press conference 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.'
Avenatti made a call to Nike's attorney on March 20, where he threatened them with 'what would happen' if they didn't meet his demands, according to the complaint filed on Monday.
'I'll go take ten billion dollars off your client's market cap,' Avenatti allegedly said during the call.
He later noted: 'I'm not f***ing around.'
Tmrw at 11 am ET, we will be holding a press conference 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.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) March 25, 2019
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Avenatti, who is widely known as the "Creepy Porn Lawyer", was thrust into the limelight for representing adult entertainer Stormy Daniels.
In November 2018, Avenatti was arrested and charged by LAPD on alleged domestic violence charges.
Since going after the president, Avenatti represented some clients who made false claims against Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and was even accused himself as falsifying witness statements to steer the course of justice to suit his agenda.
We reported last year Avenatti lived a lavish lifestyle, despite owing millions in taxes to the IRS.
The report revealed that Avenatti, who fancied his chances as a potential contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination lives like a king while owing millions in federal taxes.
