Attorney Michael Avenatti is being charged by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York and Los Angeles in two separate cases.
In New York, Avenatti has been charged on 4 counts of extortion for "attempting to extract more than $20 million in payments from a publicly traded company [Nike] by threatening to use his ability to garner publicity to inflict substantial financial and reputational harm on the company if his demands were not met."
In Los Angeles, Avenatti was charged with two counts of wire fraud and bank fraud.
- "According to an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint in this case, Avenatti negotiated a settlement which called for $1.6 million in settlement money to be paid on January 10, 2018, but then gave the client a bogus settlement agreement with a false payment date of March 10, 2018."
- "Avenatti also allegedly defrauded a bank in Mississippi by submitting to the lender false tax returns in order to obtain three loans totaling $4.1 million for his law firm and coffee business in 2014."