Federal prosecutors announced Monday that they are charging high-profile attorney Michael Avenatti for allegedly attempting to shakedown Nike.
The United States Attorney of the Southern District of New York said the charges against Avenatti were “for attempting to extract more than $20M in payments from Nike by threatening to garner publicity to inflict financial & reputational harm if his demands were not met.”
In a copy of the complaint, prosecutors alleged Avenatti “threatened to cause substantial financial harm to Nike and its reputation if Nike did not agree to make multi-million dollar payments to Avenatti,” as well as to one of his clients.
Avenatti, 48, gained nationwide attention when he represented porn star Stormy Daniels in her suit against President Donald Trump. He also briefly considered running for president.
Shortly before the charges became public on Monday, Avenatti tweeted his plans to hold a press conference Tuesday “to disclose a major high school/college basketball scandal perpetrated by Nike that we have uncovered.
