Attorney Michael Avenatti, who represented adult film star Stormy Daniels in her legal feud with US President Donald Trump, has been charged with extorting more than $20 million from Nike, a criminal complaint from the Southern District Court of New York revealed on Monday
NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th March, 2019) Attorney Michael Avenatti, who represented adult film star Stormy Daniels in her legal feud with US President Donald Trump, has been charged with extorting more than $20 million from Nike, a criminal complaint from the Southern District Court of New York revealed on Monday."MICHAEL AVENATTI... met with attorneys of NIKE, Inc. ("Nike") and threatened to release damaging information regarding Nike if Nike did not agree to make multi-million Dollar payments to AVENATTI... and make an additional $1.5 million payment to an individual AVENATTI claimed to represent," the complaint said.
According to the court documents, Avenatti, who represents an American Athletic Union coach, told Nike lawyers in March that he had evidence company employees authorized and funded payments to families of top high school basketball players and tried to conceal those payments.
Avenatti allegedly threatened to publicly reveal those actions on the eve of Nike's quarterly earnings call, "thus maximizing the potential financial and reputational damage" of the company. In return for silence, Avenatti allegedly asked for more than $20 million from Nike.
"If Nike wants to have one confidential settlement and we're done, they can buy it for twenty-two and a half million Dollars and we're done," Avenatti is quoted as saying in the complaint.
Full confidentiality and all parties ride off into the sunset, Avenatti added as per the complaint.
