It was a collision between politics and amateur sports.
Federal investigators in New York and California have charged celebrity attorney Michael Avenatti- a long- time adversary of President Donald Trump who represented Stormy Daniels– with extortion and bank fraud.
In the New York case, Avenatti was charged with attempting to extort more than $20 million in payments from Nike by threatening to use his ability to generate national publicity and inflict financial damage and and reputational harm on the shoe company giant if his demands were not met.
Avenatti appeared in court Monday night and released on $300,000 bond. He is barred from having any contact with the co-conspirator, identified in multiple reports as California celebrity lawyer Mark Garagos, in the case. He also must report any financial transactions or more than $5,000. His next court appearance is scheduled for April 1 in Los Angeles.
Avenatti has said he will be exonerated. The U.S. attorney in New York, Geoffrey S. Berman, said Avenatti engaged in ‘’a shakedown.’’
“A suit and tie does not mask the fact that, at its core, this was an old fashioned shakedown,” Berman said. “When lawyers use their law licenses as weapons, as a guise to extort payments for themselves, they are no longer acting as attorneys. They are acting as criminals.’’
Prosecutors in New York said their investigation began only last week and wrapped it up within four days. According to the New York complaint, Avenatti threatened to hold a news conference before the second week of the NCAA tournament at which he would announce allegations of misconduct by Nike employees. He tweeted Monday the press conference would be held Tuesday. Less than 15 minutes later, he was arrested.
Avenatti stated that he would refrain from holding a press conference only if Nike made a payment of $1.5 million to a client of Avenatti in possession of information damaging to Nike and conduct an “internal investigation” for which demanded to be paid between $15 and $20 million, according to the complaint.
The complaint said Avenatti’s client is a coach of a Nike boys’ travel program based in California that was sponsored by Nike for $72,000 annually. Sources told ESPN that the AAU coach is Gary Franklin from the EBYL California Supreme, whose former players include NBA players Deandre Ayton, De’Anthony Melton, Solomon Hill and Aaron Holiday. Franklin has also coached several current players, including Oregon’s 7-0 freshman Bol Bol and 6-10 freshman Shareef O’Neal of UCLA. Franklin did not return messages for comment from ESPN.
