‘Lawless’: Feds Say Avenatti Tried to Extort Nike, Swiped Client Funds
Lawyer Michael Avenatti was hit with a one-two punch of federal charges on Monday: an allegation in New York that he tried to extort Nike for up to $25 million and an accusation in California that he misappropriated a client’s settlement money.
“The case paints an ugly picture of lawless conduct and greed,” Nick Hanna, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said at a news conference to announce wire fraud and bank fraud charges that could land Avenatti in prison for up to 50 years.
Minutes later, on the opposite coast, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman told reporters that Avenatti had “used legal and extortionate threats with the purpose of obtaining millions of dollars in payments for himself”—an old-fashioned shakedown.
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