How the mighty have fallen. He was a nightly fixture on CNN, every liberal outfit sought him out for quotes demonizing President Trump. His name is Michael Avenatti and he is almost at rock bottom. He has been found guilty of extortion against Nike.
Prosecutors are asking for 8 years in prison. The defense has countered that with no prison time. They say he has been embarrassed and that should be good enough.
Avenatti tried to extort $20 million dollars from Nike but Nike refused to pay off and instead they notified the police. He threatened them with scandal if they refused to pay him. He called a press conference when Nike turned him down and he was arrested the same day.
However, eight years in prison is the least of his worries. He still has two more trials left and the time he can get will far surpass 8 years.
The prosecutors wrote:
“The defendant, a prominent attorney and media personality with a large public following, betrayed his client and sought to enrich himself by weaponizing his public profile in an attempt to extort a publicly-traded company out of tens of millions of dollars. This was an egregious abuse of trust, and it warrants real and serious punishment.”
Avenatti became a public figure when he became the lawyer of Stormy Daniels, the porn star whose career arose from the dead as she dances jaybird naked on stages all across America. He is now being sued by the same Stormy Daniels for defrau8ding her, He also faces trial in California for stealing money from clients. He faces 36 charges of embezzlement, failure to file and pay income taxes, fraudulent loan applications, and concealing assets from a bankruptcy court.
Avenatti had reportedly threatened to accuse Nike of scandal unless the company paid him $20 million. As The Daily Wire reported:
In New York, Avenatti was charged with attempting to extort Nike. Avenatti was found guilty for telling Nike attorneys that he would “take 10 billion dollars off your client’s market cap” if they didn’t pay him and a client $20 million. Avenatti threatened to hold a press conference to publicly accuse Nike of a scandal involving high school and college basketball teams. On March 25, 2019, Avenatti announced he would hold the press conference the following day. That same day, the Southern District of New York announced charges against the attorney for extortion.
Avenatti was found guilty in February 2020.
