Michael Avenatti gained fame across the country in 2018 for representing Adult Film actress Stormy Daniels in a lawsuit against Donald Trump. He then toyed with the idea of ousting Trump with a short-lived bid to make a run in the 2020 presidential race.
More recently, Avenatti has been tied up in a federal extortion case that involves him allegedly attempting to blackmail athletic apparell powerhouse Nike for millions of dollars (upwards of $25 million, reportedly) with evidence that the company has funneled thousands of dollars to top high school basketball prospects and their families in an attempt to sway their recruiting decisions.
On Monday, court documents were acquired by Dane Wetzel and Peter Thamel of Yahoo! Sports that contain recorded conversations with Nike executives. Avenatti claims that a former client and AAU basketball coach Gary Franklin recorded conversations after he felt uncomfortable with their demands.
In March, three men at Adidas were sentenced to several months in federal prison for fraud in a similar incident. The scandal involved the “steering” of top high school prospects to colleges sponsored by the brand. In an article by Mark Schlabach of ESPN, the recruiting scandal involved large sums of money coming from Adidas to these athletes.“Among other allegations, the men were accused of conspiring to pay $100,000 from Adidas to Brian ‘Tugs’ Bowen’s father to influence Bowen to sign with Louisville in the summer of 2017,” said Schlabach.
Avenatti represented coach Gary Franklin after Franklin alleged that he had lost control of his California based AAU team after refusing to bow to Nike’s demands. Franklin proceeded to record conversations with executives. In total, there were 16 different conversations according to court documents.
“As Coach Franklin became more and more concerned about the collaborative actions of Nike executives and [Bryan] Freedman and [Mel] McDonald, Franklin began to surreptitiously record conversations with them,” Avenatti’s filing reads.
On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Paul G. Gardephe declined to dismiss the criminal charges against Avenatti.
“The Indictment adequately alleges that Avenatti engaged in ‘wrongful’ conduct, because it pleads facts demonstrating that Avenatti used threats of economic and reputational harm to demand millions of dollars from Nike, for himself, to which he had no plausible claim of right,” Gardephe wrote (via ESPN). “While Avenatti’s client may have been in a position to make demands on Nike, Avenatti had no right — independent of his client — to demand millions of dollars from Nike (1) based on confidential information supplied by his client; (2) without his client’s knowledge; and (3) to his client’s detriment. Whether or not Avenatti engaged in such conduct is, of course, a question for the jury.”
The trial will begin January 21 in New York for Avenatti. In the meantime, we all await additional bombshell evidence that may further implicate Nike.
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