Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti found guilty in Nike extortion trial
Could not have happened to a nicer guy. This is truly one scumbag of a man. Him and Stormy tried to rip and take down Trump, but failed, and it was much fake crap and lies. And then Avenatti ripped her off too!! And big time, and now she is suing him too. As are several others.
He is looking at quite a bit of time in jail.
--
Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti found guilty in Nike extortion trial
- Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti was convicted of all three charges related to his efforts to extort up to $25 million from athletic apparel giant Nike.
- The verdict in Manhattan federal court came two years after Avenatti gained widespread notoriety for his representation of porn star Stormy Daniels in her legal disputes with President Donald Trump.
- Trump's then-lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels hush money to keep her quiet about claims of an affair with the president on the eve of the 2016 election.
Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti was convicted Friday by a jury of all three charges related to his efforts to extort up to $25 million from athletic apparel giant Nike, in what a top prosecutor called "an old-fashioned shakedown."
The verdict in U.S. District Court in Manhattan came two years after Avenatti gained widespread notoriety for his representation of porn star Stormy Daniels in her legal disputes with President Donald Trump.
The bombastic attorney, who briefly flirted with running for the Democratic presidential nomination, faces two other pending federal criminal cases this spring related to alleged thefts of millions of dollars from clients, including Daniels, and other serious charges.
"I think he's in a bit of a state of shock," one of his defense attorneys, Danya Perry, told reporters after the verdict, which Avenatti plans to appeal.
"But he's a fighter, as you all know, and he's staying strong."
Daniels posted a statement on Instagram, saying: "Sadly, it appears what Michael Avenatti did to me was just the tip of an iceberg of deceit. I am not surprised his dishonesty has been revealed on a grand scale."
She added: "His arrogant, fraudulent and overly aggressive behavior became so pervasive that the jury found his true character. Although clearly a just result, I do feel sad for his children and foolish for believing his lies for so long."
Avenatti, 48, was accused in the Nike case of trying to shake down the publicly traded company by threatening to go public with alleged evidence that the company had bribed amateur basketball players and their families unless Nike paid him millions of dollars.
Avenatti warned Nike's attorney that the claims could "take ten billion dollars off your client's" stock market capitalization.
Avenatti had claimed to represent amateur basketball coach Gary Franklin, who testified at trial that he was unaware of the lawyer's tactics.
Prosecutors said Avenatti was motivated by a desperate need to get out from crushing personal debt of more than $11 million.
"I'm not f---ing around with this, and I'm not continuing to play games," Avenatti told Nike's lawyers, shortly before his arrest last March.
.....
In his next scheduled trial, also in Manhattan federal court, Avenatti is charged with swindling Daniels out of $300,000 in proceeds for a book she wrote.
In his other pending case, in California, Avenatti is accused of defrauding other clients out of millions of dollars, tax crimes and perjury.
Daniels was paid $130,000 by Trump's then-personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen on the eve of the 2016 presidential election to keep her quiet about her claims of having had sex with Trump years earlier.
Rest - https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/14/disg...ion-trial.html
Reply With Quote
