by Jenn Carter
As I reported earlier, “Creepy Porn Lawyer” and anti-Trump activist Michael Avenatti was arrested for extorting NIKE for as much as $25 million, as charged by Federal prosecutors in New York.
Well now TWO additional charges have been added by Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles. For his alleged massive financial crimes, Avenatti faces up to 50 years in prison.
For the Nike charges, Avenatti is alleged to have told the global apparel maker that he would cancel a press conference critical of sports apparel company only if it paid an unidentified client $1.5 million, and hired him and another California lawyer to conduct an internal investigation for $15 million to $25 million.
Avenatti is accused of wire fraud and bank fraud. He was arrested Monday, prosecutors said.
Nike’s lawyers reportedly recorded the sleazy lawyer making direct threats of extortion:
“I’m not fucking around with this, and I’m not continuing to play games. . . . You guys know enough now to know you’ve got a serious problem. And it’s worth more in exposure to me to just blow the lid on this thing. A few million dollars doesn’t move the needle for me. I’m just being really frank with you. So if that’s what, if that’s what’s being contemplated, then let’s just say it was good to meet you, and we’re done. And I’ll proceed with my press conference tomorrow . . . .
I’m not fucking around with this thing anymore. So if you guys think that you know, we’re gonna negotiate a million five, and you’re gonna hire us to do an internal investigation, but it’s gonna be capped at 3 or 5 or 7 million dollars, like let’s just be done. And I’ll go and I’ll go take ten billion dollars off your client’s market cap.But I’m not fucking around.”
When they refused, he released a tweet announcing a “scandal”:
Nike stock instantly tanked to its lowest level since February:
After his arrest, minutes later, the shares rebounded.
Now he has been charged with additional crimes:
A second set of charges allege Avenatti embezzled a client’s money in order to pay his own expenses and debts — as well as those of his coffee business and law firm — and also defrauded a bank by using phony tax returns to obtain millions of dollars in loans.
Avenatti also allegedly defrauded a bank in Mississippi by submitting to the lender false tax returns in order to obtain three loans totaling $4.1 million for his law firm and coffee business in 2014. According to the affidavit, Avenatti obtained the loans by submitting fabricated individual income tax returns (Forms 1040) for 2011, 2012, and 2013, reporting substantial income even though he had never filed any such returns with the Internal Revenue Service.
The phony returns stated that he earned $4,562,881 in adjusted gross income in 2011, $5,423,099 in 2012, and $4,082,803 in 2013, according to the affidavit. Avenatti allegedly also claimed he paid $1.6 million in estimated tax payments to the IRS in 2012 and paid $1.25 million in 2013. In reality, Avenatti never filed personal income tax returns for 2011, 2012 and 2013 and did not make any estimated tax payments in 2012 and 2013.
AdvertisementInstead of the millions of dollars he claimed to have paid in taxes, Avenatti still owed the IRS $850,438 in unpaid personal income tax plus interest and penalties for the tax years 2009 and 2010, court papers state. The affidavit also alleges that, as part of his loan applications, Avenatti also submitted a fictitious partnership tax return for his law firm.
And yet ANOTHER set of charges alleges he STOLE over a million dollars from his own client.
Avenatti reportedly negotiated a $1.6 million settlement on behalf of a client, then turned around and gave the client a “bogus settlement agreement” with a fake date and fake amount. He used the stolen money to pay “expenses” for his coffee business.
That office said “Avenatti misappropriated his client’s settlement money and used it to pay expenses for his coffee business, Global Baristas US LLC, which operated Tully’s Coffee stores in California and Washington state, as well as for his own expenses.”
“When the fake March 2018 deadline passed and the client asked where the money was, Avenatti continued to conceal that the payment had already been received, court documents said,” according to prosecutors.
“A lawyer has a basic duty not to steal from his client,” said U.S. Attorney for Los Angeles Nick Hanna.
“Mr. Avenatti is facing serious criminal charges alleging he misappropriated client trust funds for his personal use and he defrauded a bank by submitting phony tax returns in order to obtain millions of dollars in loans.”
The potential result? 50 years in Federal prison.
Now the media that endlessly promoted Avenatti for months on the alphabet networks are FREAKING OUT and trying to hide their alliance with him. At least 30 tweets showing CNN, MSNBC and other hosts with the alleged criminal are being deleted. But Tweets are FOREVER!
Let’s take a closer look…oh it’s CNN stars, inclduing Don Lemon “partying” with Mikey in the Hamptons…deleted!
Looks like Don Lemon too is deleting some tweets:
Whoa have you seen this one pic.twitter.com/M72soOH1Ee
— Pete Woke’em (@pyochum81) May 17, 2018
Too late, Don…captured!
Sorry, CNN, you are going to have to spend ALL DAY on the delete button after you got in bed (and spent the weekend) with this despicable excuse for a human being:
It’s a REALLY bad week for the “resistance”. Here’s the full Federal complaint:
There’s a TIMELINE of events relating to the Michael Avenatti case, laid out.
— Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) March 25, 2019
This all happened within the past WEEK. pic.twitter.com/tLIGw5kJz9
This is a developing story…refresh the page for updates
