Michael Avenatti Charged With Attempting to Extort More Than $20 Million From Nike

Michael Avenatti, the lawyer Stormy Daniels used to sue Donald Trump, was charged today with attempting to extort Nike for more than $20 million.

According to Business Insider, the celebrity lawyer 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.”

The lawyer, according to court filings, told Nike that he wanted the company to pay himself and another lawyer between $15 and $25 million to conduct an internal investigation or he would hold a press conference alleging misconduct at Nike.

Just this afternoon the attorney tweeted that he was uncovering a scandal “perpetrated by @Nike.”

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

The federal filings say that Avenatti said “If we don’t reach a resolution … as soon as this becomes public, I am going to receive calls from all over the country from parents and coaches and friends and all kinds of people — this is always what happens — and they are all going to say I’ve got an email or a text message or — now 90% of that is going to be bullshit because it’s always bullshit 90% of the time, always, whether it’s R. Kelly or Trump, the list goes on and on — but 10% of it is actually going to be true, and then what’s going to happen is that this is going to snowball.”

The celebrity lawyer said that Nike “will die” every time an article or news conference is held in connection to the scandal. If his demands were met, an FBI agent says, Avenatti offered “full confidentiality, we ride off into the sunset.”