Michael Avenatti sentenced to 2½ years in Nike extortion case
Michael Avenatti, the one-time celebrity lawyer who rose to national fame by representing porn star Stormy Daniels, was sentenced to 2½ years in federal prison Thursday for attempting to extort millions of dollars from Nike.
Avenatti, 50, who appeared in person in Manhattan federal
court, apologized for his crimes before Judge Paul Gardephe handed down the
30-month sentence.
“I lost my way,” he said, at one point bursting into tears
during the hours-long court hearing. “I betrayed my own values, friends, family
and myself.”
The now-infamous California lawyer, who is suspended from
practicing in the state, was convicted of attempted extortion and
honest-services fraud in February 2020 for trying to shake down the sportswear
company for more than $20 million.
As part of the scheme, Avenatti demanded tens of millions of
dollars from the company — and threatened to make embarrassing statements about
it on his widely followed social media accounts if it didn’t pay up.
The loudmouth lawyer, who sparred with then-President Donald
Trump and once floated a 2020 presidential run, hatched the attempted shakedown
scheme while he was representing a youth basketball coach, who hired Avenatti
after Nike ended sponsorship of his league.
“I just wanted a lawyer who could convey to Nike that I was
an honorable man who was just trying to keep his program,” the coach, Gary
Franklin, wrote in a victim impact statement filed in the case prior to the
sentencing.
“I looked to Mr. Avenatti as a trusted advisor and he put
his interests over my own. He has never apologized to me for this — and to my
knowledge, he has expressed no remorse for his behavior,” he added.
Prior to sentencing, federal prosecutors had requested a
“very substantial” sentence for the lawyer, accusing him in court papers of
specifically trying to benefit himself and not once mentioning his client while
trying to extort Nike.
The US Probation Department, meanwhile, asked for an
eight-year sentence, court filings show.
Avenatti faced a statutory maximum of 42 years, the judge
said.
The disgraced lawyer’s sentencing Thursday wraps up just one
of many criminal proceedings he’s charged in in New York and California.
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