Michael Avenatti Tried To Extort $20M From Nike, Charges Say

NEW YORK — Trump foe and celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti has been arrested in New York City and accused of trying to extort $20 million from Nike.

The attorney who represented porn star Stormy Daniels as she claimed to have had an affair with the president, is also facing federal charges of wire and bank fraud.

The Department of Justice was set announce the charges at a press conference Monday afternoon.

Avenatti was arrested Monday in New York on a criminal complaint alleging he embezzled a client's money in order to pay his own expenses and debts — as well as those of his coffee business and law firm — and also defrauded a bank by using phony tax returns to obtain millions of dollars in loans, according to federal authorities in Los Angeles.

Avenatti, 48, of Century City, California, is charged with wire fraud and bank fraud in a two-count felony complaint filed in Los Angeles. He is also facing a separate federal case filed in New York involving allegations that he threatened to damage Nike's reputation if the company did not agree to make at least $22.5 million in payments to him and an unnamed co-conspirator — allegedly one of his clients.

"A lawyer has a basic duty not to steal from his client," said U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna. "Mr. Avenatti is facing serious criminal charges alleging he misappropriated client trust funds for his personal use and he defrauded a bank by submitting phony tax returns in order to obtain millions of dollars in loans."

Avenatti has yet to publicly address the charges, but he did go on the offensive against Nike on Twitter as the charges were announced.

He said he would hold a news conference Tuesday in New York "to disclose a major high school/college basketball scandal perpetrated by Nike that we have uncovered. This criminal conduct reaches the highest levels of Nike and involves some of the biggest names in college basketball."

Avenatti rose to fame representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump over an alleged affair between the two. With Avenatti's arrest, attorneys for both sides of that case have ended up facing federal charges. Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen has admitted violating campaign finance laws to buy the porn star's silence, and he is expected to begin serving a prison sentence later this spring.

It's not the high-profile attorney's first arrest. Last year he arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, but Los Angeles prosecutors declined to file charges in that case. In that case an actress who says she had a relationship with Avenatti alleged that he dragged her across the floor of his Los Angeles apartment after an argument over money.

Avenatti denied the allegations and cited the decision not to file charges as an exoneration.

He gained fame representing Daniels in dueling lawsuits with president. He made himself a fixture on cable news and as Twitter star, relentless in his barbs directed at Trump and Cohen.

Though the Daniels lawsuits were ultimately resolved with little fanfare, the case played a role in the FBI's raid of Cohen's home and office, which eventually led to Cohen's conviction as well as his unprecedented break with the president.

Cohen turned witness against the president in multiple federal investigations, and he testified against his former boss before Congress. In an extraordinary Congressional hearing in February, Cohen said of Trump, "He is a racist. He is a con man, and he is a cheat."

This story was reported by Paige Austin/Patch