Federal prosecutors have just announced charges against Michael Avenatti.
Avenatti, the former lawyer for adult film star Stormy Daniels, has been arrested and charged over an alleged attempt to extort millions of dollars from Nike. Southern District of New York prosecutors allege he demanded Nike pay him and a client millions of dollars or he would hold a press conference revealing damaging information about the company, CBS News reports. Prosecutors say he said he would not hold a press conference if Nike retained him and paid him and a co-conspirator "at a minimum, between $15 and $25 million." He allegedly said that if Nike didn't agree to his demands, he would "go take ten billion dollars off your client's market cap."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Can Texas redistricting save the US House for the GOP?Today's Big Question Trump pushes a 'ruthless' new plan, but it could backfire
-
'No one should be surprised by this cynical strategy'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Intellectual property: AI gains at creators' expenseFeature Two federal judges ruled that it is fair use for AI firms to use copyrighted media to train bots
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambushSpeed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrialSpeed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside homespeed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confessionspeed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulderspeed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC paradespeed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
