Supreme Court declines to review conviction of disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti in Nike extortion case

Washington – The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a bid by disgraced California lawyer Michael Avenatti to overturn his conviction for attempting to extort nearly $25 million from sporting goods giant Nike.

The dismissal of Avenatti’s appeal means his conviction on three federal charges will remain in effect.

Avenatti gained notoriety for representing adult film star Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against former President Donald Trump, but was involved in several legal scandals. Among them was your scheme to extort millions of dollars of Nike, for which he was found guilty by a jury on three federal charges and sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Avenatti, 53, is currently incarcerated at a federal correctional facility in San Pedro, California. He is scheduled to be released in 2035, according to Bureau of Prison records. In addition to the Nike case, he was also convicted of cheating on Daniels It is other customers of millions of dollars.

Avenatti also played a woman who accused Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when he was in high school in the early 1980s, allegations that surfaced during his Supreme Court confirmation process in 2018. Kavanaugh has vehemently denied all of the allegations. He did not participate in the consideration of the Avenatti case.

The criminal case before the Supreme Court stemmed from his representation of athletic coach Gary Franklin, whose youth basketball organization Nike sponsored for about a decade. The firm’s sponsorship, however, ceased in 2018. The Justice Department noted that when Avenatti agreed to represent Franklin, he had outstanding judgments worth $11 million and his law firm was kicked out of office for nonpayment of rent.

As part of his work for Franklin, Avenatti set up a meeting with Nike’s lawyers in March 2019 and told him he would guarantee him $1 million in compensation and try to reestablish Nike’s relationship with him and his youth basketball organization.

During the March 2019 meeting, Avenatti made a series of demands of Nike’s lawyers and threatened to hold a press conference to air allegations that the company was illegally paying elite amateur basketball players. Avenatti, who also threatened to leak the story to the New York Times, said public disclosure of the allegations would hurt the company financially.

Nike representatives contacted federal prosecutors after the meeting and agreed to let the FBI record their conversations with Avenatti. A day later, Avenatti spoke again with a Nike lawyer and reiterated his demand that the company pay Franklin $1.5 million and hire him and another lawyer, Mark Geragos, to conduct an internal investigation into basketball corruption.

Avenatti said he needed to be paid more than “a few million dollars” for the investigation because “it’s worth more in exposure to me to just blow this thing up,” according to court documents. Ultimately, he demanded a payment of between $15 million and $25 million, but also suggested that if Nike wanted a confidential settlement, it could be “done” by paying him $22.5 million for your silence.

“Total confidentiality, we’ll ride off into the sunset,” Avenatti was recorded telling Nike lawyers.

Franklin was unaware that Avenatti planned to threaten Nike into making public the exposure of the alleged misconduct and intended for the information to be kept confidential, according to court documents.

A federal grand jury in New York indicted Avenatti on three counts. His efforts to dismiss the charges were unsuccessful and he was subsequently convicted. Requests for a new trial and sentence of acquittal were denied.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Avenatti’s conviction, concluding that the evidence was sufficient to find him guilty on all three counts.

He then appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing in part that the federal fraud law he was convicted of violating is unconstitutionally vague. Represented by federal public defenders, Avenatti also argued that requiring a lawyer’s agreement cannot give rise to federal criminal liability for racketeering.

“This case vivifies all the evils of honest services fraud,” Avenatti’s lawyers wrote in a Supreme Court archiving. “Federal and state laws already contain broad tools to combat abuses of fiduciary duty – bribery prosecutions or, as may be relevant here, professional disciplinary proceedings.

The Justice Department urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the case, calling its claims “meritless.” Avenatti’s racketeering charges were based on his demand that Nike hire him to conduct an internal investigation, not litigation conduct, Attorney General Elizabeth Prelogar said in a statement. archiving to judges.