A federal appeals court was skeptical Thursday about overturning Michael Avenatti’s conviction for extorting money from Nike Inc, as the famed fallen lawyer tries to shorten his planned 19-year prison term.
The conviction stemmed from Avenatti’s recorded threat to “blow the lid off” of allegedly corrupt Nike payments to families of college basketball prospects and damage Nike’s stock price unless the sportswear company paid up to $ 25 million for him to conduct an investigation plus $1.5 million to his complainant client.
In arguments before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan, federal public defender Daniel Habib said Avenatti was simply defending his client Gary Franklin, a youth basketball coach, and that “everyone agrees.” that it was not a crime to threaten to expose corruption.
But the three-judge appeals court questioned whether heavily indebted Avenatti was looking after himself before Franklin, who testified that he did not want an investigation and simply wanted his Nike endorsement back.
“This is what I would charitably call a curious bargain,” Circuit Judge Reena Raggi told Habib. “He’s arguing to us that the jury, as a matter of law, couldn’t find that it was outrageous… and I’m having trouble with that.”
Federal judges are skeptical of former attorney Michael Avenatti’s attempt to shorten his expected 19-year prison sentence.
(REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
Circuit Judge John Walker said jurors could find Avenatti’s lawsuit investigating “a cover for this rather massive payment that went well beyond what Mr. Franklin contemplated, to save a company that was in trouble.” financial difficulties”.
U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said a jury could convict Avenatti if it found it was Avenatti’s “intent to be influenced in his representation of Franklin … by way of payment.”
Nike has denied any wrongdoing.
In 2018, Avenatti rose to fame representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in a lawsuit against Donald Trump stemming from an affair the former US president says never happened.
But his career was destroyed after his arrest in March 2019 in the Nike case, where he was found guilty of racketeering and honest services fraud and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison.
Avenatti was subsequently convicted of defrauding Daniels out of a book deal money, and admitted to defrauding four other clients, including a paraplegic, out of millions of dollars.
He is appealing Daniels’ conviction, which added 2 1/2 years to his prison time, and his 14-year sentence for his guilty plea.
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The case is US v. Avenatti, US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, No. 21-1778.
