New York federal prosecutors have charged the celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti with attempting to extort more than $20 million from Nike.
Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York said in a charging document that Avenatti tried to get the money by "threatening to use his ability to garner publicity to inflict substantial financial & reputational harm on the company if his demands were not met."
News of Avenatti's indictment came just after he posted a tweet saying that he would be holding a press conference Tuesday 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."
Avenatti rose to fame over the last year for representing the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, who sued President Donald Trump to get out of a nondisclosure agreement she signed regarding an affair she claims she had with him in the 2000s. Daniels' lawsuit was central to a separate Manhattan US attorney's office investigation into Trump's and his former lawyer Michael Cohen's business dealings before the 2016 US election.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
See Also:
Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:
Email: eyewitness@pulse.ng
