This could be the beginning of a long and productive career in politics. You can't get elected President any more unless you're a crook.
Michael Avenatti charged with trying to extort Nike - CNNPolitics
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan on Monday charged lawyer Michael Avenatti with attempting to extort more than $20 million from Nike.
Avenatti was arrested Monday morning in Manhattan, law enforcement officials tell CNN. He will appear in court later Monday.
Minutes after the news broke, the Justice Department announced charges against Avenatti in a separate federal case from California.
According to the criminal complaint, Avenatti met in March 2019 with an attorney for Nike and threatened to release damaging information about the company if Nike didn't make millions in payment to himself and an unnamed co-conspirator. Avenatti also allegedly demanded that Nike pay $1.5 million to an individual he claimed to represent.
"I'll go take $10 billion dollars off your client's market cap ... I'm not f***ing around," Avenatti said, according to the complaint.
You can read the criminal complaint here:
READ: Charges against Michael Avenatti for trying to extort Nike - CNNPolitics
I read the complaint.
A basketball coach in California hired Avenatti. Nike had had a contract with the coach's team but didn't renew it. According to Avenatti, the coach had proof Nike had made payments to family members of the top players on the high school team and had tried to conceal those payments.
Another sporting goods company had recently been prosecuted for the same crime, so Avenatti felt he had the goods on Nike and told them that he would destroy their reputation, and thus their stock price, unless they paid the coach $1.5 million and hired Avenatti to do an internal investigation of Nike.
Avenatti was going to hold a public press conference just before Nike's quarterly earnings call to maximize the damage.
Dun-dun-dunnnnnnnnh!
