While court filing last Tuesday, prosecutors allege that Michael Avenatti was on $15 million debt during his attempt to extort Nike in March. They said the lawyers tried to shake down the infamous sneaker brand for more than $20 million and threatened to release damaging information if the company didn’t pay him and another individual off.
“The Government does not intend to argue that the defendant was wealthy (and the evidence shows that he was not),” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky wrote.“The Government expects that the evidence at trial will show that, at the time of his charged conduct, the defendant was in significant debt. Specifically, the Government presently estimates that the defendant’s debts at that time were, conservatively, in excess of $15 million.”
“Any claim that I had $15 million in debt at the time of my arrest is bogus and absurd,” Avenatti told the New York Post. “I look forward to the trial in this case at which time I will be fully exonerated and the truth will finally be known.”
April 2020
The central judge in New York has issued a release for Micheal Avenatti as the pandemic outbreak is severe.
The attorney stated on Friday that the ex-lawyer of porn star Stormy Daniels will be sent from Metropolitan Correctional Center to a Federal Bureau of Prisons amenity to be self-isolated for 2 weeks.
Post his quarantine he will be permitted to go to Los Angeles where he will be residing with his aid. Further another pal of him posted a $1 million contract for his bail.
Further, Judge stated that Michael will not be permitted to go out of his home except in need of urgency. Besides, he is supposed to have a monitoring bracelet and not allowed to use the internet and not buy anything above $500.
Michael was found guilty in February for extorting more than $20 million dollars from Nike.
Further, the prosecutors alleged that the former lawyer of Stormy was intimidating Nike to $1.5 million to the customer who had the details. Avenatti also had asked Nike to give him and his aid a sum of $15 to $25 million dollars to start an internal investigation.
Avenatti is expected to be sentenced by June 17th but it is not yet confirmed due to the Corona breakout.