First he himself tweeted that Nike was at fault in a huge proceeding. Then the pendulum swung oppositely.
Nike stock tanked, as he rang them up and tried to exact a $15-25m payout. According to the complaint filed in federal court, Avenatti told Nike attorneys by phone last week if his demands were not met, "I'll go take ten billion dollars off your client's market cap ... I'm not f*cking around.
Avenatti is alleged to have told Nike that he would cancel a press conference critical of sports apparel company only if it paid an unidentified client $1.5 million, and hired him and another California lawyer to conduct an internal investigation for $15 million to $25 million.
Then the SDNY moved in and arrested him.
Just minutes after lawyer Michael Avenatti tweeted his tease of a press conference tomorrow claiming Nike is involved in a college basketball scandal, Bloomberg reports that Avenatti was just charged by federal prosecutors in New York with attempting to extort millions of dollars out of Nike Inc. by threatening to release damaging information about the company, which did not meet his demands.
https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/1110213957170749440
https://twitter.com/eorden/status/1110225166901100545
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lawyer-avenatti-accused-u-trying-171627220.html
Famous Creepy Porn Lawyer Michael Avenatti Arrested in $15m-$25m Extortion Scheme versus Nike vis-a-vis college basketball
Report Thread
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Keep that SDNY in mind.
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Track (running) loses at again! Probably he could extort around $15k from Nike, $25k max, if he tried that angle.
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lmao what a chump
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Actually, the wire/bank fraud is LA attorney, and the extortion is NY.
10:50 AM PT -- There will be 2 news conferences ... the U.S. Attorney in L.A. will address the wire fraud charges at 11 AM PT, and the U.S. Attorney in New York will address the Nike extortion case at 11:30 AM PT. TMZ will livestream both news conferences
According to the complaint, Avenatti demanded Nike hire him to conduct an internal investigation for the enormous salary.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York says Avenatti was representing a client who was the coach of an AAU Youth Club basketball team.
Prosecutors say Avenatti gave Nike an option ... don't hire him but pay $22.5 million to resolve the dispute and buy his silence.
The complaint says Avenatti claimed the AAU coach had evidence that one or more Nike employees had funded payments to the families of top high school basketball players and attempted to conceal those payments.
According to prosecutors, there was a call on March 20 between Avenatti and Nike during which Avenatti said, "I'm not f**king around with this, and I'm not continuing to play games ... you guys know enough now to know you've got a serious problem ... So if you guys think that you know, we're gonna negotiate a million five, and you're gonna hire us to do an internal investigation, but it's gonna be capped at 3 or 5 or 7 million dollars, like let's just be done."
Prosecutors say then Avenatti makes a threat ..."I'll go and I'll go take 10 billion dollars off your client's market cap. But I'm not f**king around."
The U.S. Attorney says the call was recorded and there's video of a meeting between Avenatti and Nike attorneys on March 21. In that meeting, Avenatti allegedly said, "If [Nike] wants to have one confidential settlement and we're done, they can buy that for $22.5 million and we're done."
During that same meeting, prosecutors say Avenatti set a March 25 deadline and said, "If this is not papered on Monday, we are done. I don't want to hear about somebody on a bike trip. I don't want to hear that ... somebody's grandmother passed away or ... the dog ate my homework, I don't want to hear -- none of it is going to go anywhere unless somebody was killed in a plane crash."
Avenatti allegedly told Nike he had them by "the balls."
That's not the end of it ... Avenatti was just arrested for more federal crimes ... bank and wire fraud. The U.S. Attorney in the Central District of California claims Avenatti embezzled client money to cover expenses for his coffee corporation which operates Tully's Coffee stores in CA and Washington.
As for allegations of bank fraud, prosecutors say Avenatti submitted false tax returns to a bank in Mississippi to get $4.1 million in loans. To get the loan, Avenatti claimed he had paid nearly $3 million in federal taxes in 2012 and 2013. Prosecutors say in fact, Avenatti paid zero and still owed $850,438. -
1) little doubt that this guy is a typical lawyer- i.e. a dishonest POS
2) little doubt that Nike is involved in some kind of dirty college basketball scandal -
The bank/wire fraud is up to 50 years in prison.
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Is his presidential run over now?
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Well, he managed to capture the news cycle wrote:
The bank/wire fraud is up to 50 years in prison.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/lawyer-michael-avenatti-arrested-federal-bank-fraud-and-wire-fraud-charges
https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/press-release/file/1147466/download -
#9d: AAU basketball program gets paid $72k a year from Nike as sponsorship
Compare that to track! -
How is this "extortion" rather than just offering Nike an opportunity to avoid bad publicity?
Sounds like a typical NDA sort of thing, no? -
Damn, I was so excited for the Avenatti/Flagpole 2020 campaign.
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The guy that tried to ruin Brett Kavanaugh. Instant Karma gonna get you....
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11.d.iii. Worth more in exposure for him just to blow the lid on the thing.
12.a. Internal investigation could be a "good thing" for Nike, as it would allow them to self-report (on their choice).
12.e. Claims that 90% of Trump / R. Kelly "accusers" who contact him are bullsh*t -
Not his only legal woe wrote:
First he himself tweeted that Nike was at fault in a huge proceeding. Then the pendulum swung oppositely.
Nike stock tanked, as he rang them up and tried to exact a $15-25m payout. According to the complaint filed in federal court, Avenatti told Nike attorneys by phone last week if his demands were not met, "I'll go take ten billion dollars off your client's market cap ... I'm not f*cking around.
Avenatti is alleged to have told Nike that he would cancel a press conference critical of sports apparel company only if it paid an unidentified client $1.5 million, and hired him and another California lawyer to conduct an internal investigation for $15 million to $25 million.
Then the SDNY moved in and arrested him.
Just minutes after lawyer Michael Avenatti tweeted his tease of a press conference tomorrow claiming Nike is involved in a college basketball scandal, Bloomberg reports that Avenatti was just charged by federal prosecutors in New York with attempting to extort millions of dollars out of Nike Inc. by threatening to release damaging information about the company, which did not meet his demands.
https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/1110213957170749440
https://twitter.com/eorden/status/1110225166901100545
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lawyer-avenatti-accused-u-trying-171627220.html
We have either gotten very soft or the lines of aggressiveness and extortion have been blurred. Seems to me MA just did what many lawyers, businesses, car dealers do all the time. Strong arm tactics. But extortion? -
Michael Avenatti Getting Arrested!
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Does anyone really believe that if Nike paid the creepy-porn dude that he simply "ride off into the sunset" and never be heard from again? Wouldn't he just jimmy up another client and ask for more?
It's never #basta when it comes to extortionists.
