Mar
25
Avenatti arrested as U.S. alleges Nike extortion, embezzlement
Posted in: Uncategorized
California lawyer Michael Avenatti was arrested and charged by federal prosecutors on both coasts, accused in New York of trying to extort millions of dollars from Nike Inc. and in Los Angeles of embezzling money from a client and defrauding a bank.
The charges depict a lawyer desperate for cash and willing to exploit his own clients. In California, prosecutors say he stole a client’s $1.6 million settlement and used it to cover expenses. In New York, he’s accused of telling Nike he’d cancel a press conference critical of the company if it paid an unidentified client $1.5 million and gave him and another attorney as much as $25 million to conduct an internal investigation.
Nike didn’t meet his demands — and instead went to prosecutors.
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