Michael Avenatti arrested for alleged $20 million extortion attempt against Nike
Celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti has been arrested on charges related to an alleged $20 million extortion of the athletic apparel company Nike, federal authorities said Monday.
A press conference is scheduled to discuss the charges against Avenatti in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon. Avenatti is due to be presented in federal court on Monday.
A criminal complaint against Avenatti says he "devised a scheme to extort a company by means of an interstate communication by threatening to damage the company's reputation if the company did not agree to make multi-million dollar payments to Avenatti and [co-conspirator], and further agree to pay an additional $1.5 million to a client of Avenatti's."
The complaint says that last Wednesday, Avenatti and a cooperating witness spoke by phone with lawyers for Nike "during which Avenatti stated, with respect to his demands for payment of milions of dollars, that if those demands were not met 'I'll go take ten billion dollars off your client's market cap ... I'm not f---ing around.' "
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/25/mich...ank-fraud.html
