Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti found guilty in Nike extortion trial

Authored by cnbc.com and submitted by jigsawmap

Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti was convicted Friday by a jury of all three charges related to his efforts to extort up to $25 million from athletic apparel giant Nike, in what a top prosecutor called "an old-fashioned shakedown."

The verdict in U.S. District Court in Manhattan came two years after Avenatti gained widespread notoriety for his representation of porn star Stormy Daniels in her legal disputes with President Donald Trump.

The bombastic attorney, who briefly flirted with running for the Democratic presidential nomination, faces two other pending federal criminal cases this spring related to alleged thefts of millions of dollars from clients, including Daniels, and other serious charges.

"I think he's in a bit of a state of shock," one of his defense attorneys, Danya Perry, told reporters after the verdict, which Avenatti plans to appeal.

"But he's a fighter, as you all know, and he's staying strong."

Daniels posted a statement on Instagram, saying: "Sadly, it appears what Michael Avenatti did to me was just the tip of an iceberg of deceit. I am not surprised his dishonesty has been revealed on a grand scale."

She added: "His arrogant, fraudulent and overly aggressive behavior became so pervasive that the jury found his true character. Although clearly a just result, I do feel sad for his children and foolish for believing his lies for so long."

Avenatti, 48, was accused in the Nike case of trying to shake down the publicly traded company by threatening to go public with alleged evidence that the company had bribed amateur basketball players and their families unless Nike paid him millions of dollars.

Avenatti warned Nike's attorney that the claims could "take ten billion dollars off your client's" stock market capitalization.

Avenatti had claimed to represent amateur basketball coach Gary Franklin, who testified at trial that he was unaware of the lawyer's tactics.

Prosecutors said Avenatti was motivated by a desperate need to get out from crushing personal debt of more than $11 million.

"I'm not f---ing around with this, and I'm not continuing to play games," Avenatti told Nike's lawyers, shortly before his arrest last March.

SleepyConscience on February 14th, 2020 at 19:42 UTC »

Prosecutors said Avenatti's audacious bid was spurred by a desperate need to get out from crushing debt of more than $10 million.

his efforts to extort up to $25 million from athletic apparel giant Nike.

That's some lawyer math if I ever saw it. I may be desperate, but I'm still greedy af.

amiatthetop2 on February 14th, 2020 at 19:34 UTC »

He still faces two additional trials for allegedly stealing Stormy Daniels' book advance and committing fraud in California. He is being held in jail for allegedly violating the terms of his bail in the California case.

Trump is going to have a field day with all of this.

justcomehome on February 14th, 2020 at 19:28 UTC »

This hurts his chance of becoming president in 2020