Michael Avenatti, former attorney of adult film star Stormy Daniels (who dumped him last month), has been arrested and is facing charges of extortion. From CNN:
The Manhattan US Attorney's office said Monday that it is charging attorney Michael Avenatti "for attempting to extract more than $20 million in payments from a publicly traded company 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."
Oy! Avenatti was representing an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) coach formerly sponsored by Nike. Avenatti said the coach had damaging information on Nike related to corruption in AAU and NCAA athletics. Just today he’d promised a press conference outlining their allegations.
The Orlando Sentinel reports Avenatti is facing charges of wire fraud and bank fraud in addition to the extortion charges.
Has there ever been a faster fall from grace? The hard-punching lawyer who took on Donald Trump and Michael Cohen was arrested in November after an alleged domestic violence episode, although prosecutors declined to file charges. Avenatti also gave up control of his law firm after a former partner accused him of hiding millions from a bankruptcy court.
It’s only a matter of time before Trump takes to Twitter to gloat.