Lawyer Michael Avenatti was arrested on Monday, charged with trying to extort Nike for millions over the threat of releasing damaging information about the company to the media. According to Bloomberg, a federal complaint against Avenatti was filed on Monday that alleged he threatened Nike, who did not meet his demands.
NEW: SDNY is charging Michael Avenatti for "attempting to extract more than $20M in payments from a publicly traded company by threatening to use his ability to garner publicity to inflict substantial financial & reputational harm on the company if his demands were not met."
— erica orden (@eorden) March 25, 2019
CNBC shared details of the criminal complaint on Monday, which included harsh language from Avenatti directed toward Nike’s legal council by phone.
A criminal complaint against Avenatti says he “devised a scheme to extort a company by means of an interstate communication by threatening to damage the company’s reputation if the company did not agree to make multi-million dollar payments to Avenatti and [co-conspirator], and further agree to pay an additional $1.5 million to a client of Avenatti’s.”
The complaint says that last Wednesday, Avenatti and a cooperating witness spoke by phone with lawyers for Nike “during which Avenatti stated, with respect to his demands for payment of milions of dollars, that if those demands were not met ‘I’ll go take ten billion dollars off your client’s market cap … I’m not f—ing around.'”
Avenatti allegedly wanted $15 to $25 million at minimum for keeping his information quiet.
The complaint alleges Avenatti said he'd refrain from holding a press conference, if Nike paid his client $1.5 million & agreed to "retain" him to conduct an "internal investigation," for which he and a co-conspirator would be paid "at a minimum, between $15 and $25 million."
— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) March 25, 2019
That information appears to be a potential high school basketball scandal. Avenatti tweeted early Monday that he would release damaging information about Nike and a high school basketball scandal at a press conference on Tuesday.
Tmrw at 11 am ET, we will be holding a press conference to disclose a major high school/college basketball scandal perpetrated by @Nike that we have uncovered. This criminal conduct reaches the highest levels of Nike and involves some of the biggest names in college basketball.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) March 25, 2019
Hours later, the extortion charges against him were announced.
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) March 25, 2019
According to other reports, there are separate charges coming to Avenatti on the other side of the country.
Federal prosecutors in LA also announcing charges of wire fraud and bank fraud against Avenatti this afternoon. These charges are separate from charges in SDNY, a source tells @KaraScannell
— Kristen Holmes (@KristenhCNN) March 25, 2019
Last year Avenatti represented adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against Donald Trump, an attempt to void the non-disclosure agreement the two signed to avoid her talking about their alleged sexual encounters. He frequently tweeted about the president and the legal battle with Trump, eventually stating he wanted to run for president in 2020 before announcing in early December that he would not seek the office.
