By David K. Li - NBC News
The discredited lawyer Michael Avenatti was sentenced Thursday by a federal judge
to two and a half years in prison for his attempts to extort money from the sports brand Nike
and thus fraudulently obtain tens of millions of dollars.
The ruling by New York Federal District Judge Paul G. Gardephe is another devastating blow for Avenatti, 50, who was once one of the most recognizable faces in cable television news for being the representative of the Former porn actress Stormy Daniels in her legal and media battle against then-President Donald Trump.
Avenatti was convicted in February 2020 of racketeering, transmission of interstate communications with the intent of blackmail and wire fraud in connection with the threats he made against Nike.
[Lawyer Michael Avenatti found guilty of trying to extort money from the Nike company]
When arrested in March 2019 by federal agents, the attorney was legally representing a Los Angeles youth basketball coach who had
alleged information about illegal payments by Nike employees to top high school athletes
.
According to the prosecution, Avenatti had threatened to ruin Nike's reputation and sink its share price unless it agreed to pay him and his client millions of dollars.
In fact, there is a record of a recorded call where the lawyer is heard hurling insults while pressuring Nike representatives to agree to pay him.
"I am not kidding, and I will not play this game," Avenatti told Nike representatives, according to court documents.
"
You know enough to realize that you are in serious trouble
. And for me, it is worth exposing myself to uncover this. A few million dollars does not make a difference," he added.
In this May 28, 2019 file photo, attorney Michael Avenatti leaves a courthouse in New York.
Prosecutors say the lawyer demanded that the Nike brand pay his client 1.5 million dollars and that he and his accomplice be compensated between 15 and 25 million for their "internal investigation" of the company.
Avenatti's defense
requested a prison sentence of only six months for his client
, claiming that his crimes were not violent and that no one had been scammed.
"You cannot go anywhere in public without receiving and submitting to scathing comments and abuse. These circumstances alone would deter anyone in Avenatti's place from engaging in similar conduct," his attorneys said.
But prosecutors said Avenatti deserved a "substantial" imprisonment of eight years for using his high-profile image "ruthlessly" to fraudulently "enrich himself."
[A famous celebrity magazine admits that it paid two women to help Trump in 2016]
“The defendant, a prominent lawyer and media personality with a large following,
betrayed his client and tried to enrich himself by using his public image
in an attempt to extort tens of millions of dollars from a publicly traded company .
This was an atrocious abuse of trust and deserves a real and serious punishment ”, highlighted the Prosecutor's Office.
Avenatti rose to fame as a lawyer for Daniels, who claimed to have had an extramarital affair with Donald Trump in 2006, and received money for keeping it a secret.
File photo taken on October 11, 2018 of the porn actress Stormy Daniels.AP
Avernatti's legal troubles are not over.
There is a federal lawsuit pending next year for
allegedly scamming Daniels out of hundreds of thousands of dollars
from a book publishing
contract
.
Avenatti also faces other federal fraud charges in Los Angeles, of which he has pleaded not guilty.