Attorney Michael Avenatti was found guilty on all counts in his Nike extortion trial on Friday and faces up to 42 years in prison if convicted.
The jury returned a guilty verdict on two attempted extortion counts and an honest services fraud charge after a three-week trial. Avenatti was charged last March for trying to extort the sportswear giant by threatening to release damaging information related to Nike's interaction with amateur athletes if they didn't pay him up to $25 million dollars.
Avenatti was charged minutes after announcing on Twitter that he would be holding a press conference to "disclose a major high school/college basketball scandal" that "reaches the highest levels of Nike and involves some of the biggest names in college basketball."
While Avenatti's attorney Howard Srebnick argued that the California lawyer — who rose to prominence by representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her effort to nullify a non-disclosure agreement with President Trump — was simply on a mission for his clients.
"In the words of Nike itself, he went in there to 'Just Do It,' for his client,” Srebnick said.
But the prosecution repeatedly played audio from Avenatti's meeting with Nike's lawyers in which he threatened to sink Nike's stock value by $5 billion or $6 billion if his demands were not met.
"This is what extortion sounds like," the prosecutor said.
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