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Avenatti pleads not guilty to extorting Nike, ripping off Stormy Daniels

By Brendan Pierson

 

Lawyer Michael Avenatti departs federal court in the Manhattan borough of New York, New York, U.S., May 28, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyer Michael Avenatti pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges that he extorted Nike Inc, just hours after entering a not-guilty plea to defrauding porn star Stormy Daniels, the client who propelled him to fame as an outspoken adversary of U.S. President Donald Trump.

 

"I am now facing the fight of my life against the ultimate Goliath, the Trump administration," Avenatti, 48, told reporters after leaving the courthouse, reiterating previous assertions that he is being targeted for political reasons. "I am confident that when a jury of my peers passes judgement on my conduct, justice will be done and I will be fully exonerated."

 

Dawn Dearden, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Richard Berman's office, which is prosecuting the cases, declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

Avenatti entered his pleas to extortion, communication with intent to extort and two counts of conspiracy in connection with Nike at an afternoon hearing in federal court in Manhattan.

 

As U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe read each of the four counts, the lawyer responded four times, "100 percent not guilty."

 

Earlier in the day, public defender Sylvie Levine entered a not guilty plea for Avenatti to charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with Daniels before U.S. Magistrate Judge James Cott in Manhattan.

 

Avenatti has hired Miami lawyer Scott Srebnick to represent him in the Nike case. At a brief hearing between his two pleas, Avenatti told U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts, who is expected to oversee the Daniels case, that he plans to hire a private lawyer in that case as well.

 

He is due back in federal court in Manhattan for hearings in both cases on June 18. He also faces a third set of charges brought by federal prosecutors in California.

 

In an indictment made public last Wednesday, federal prosecutors in Manhattan accused Avenatti of stealing about $300,000 from Daniels to fund an extravagant lifestyle, including a Ferrari automobile, after helping her secure a book contract.

 

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was paid $130,000 by Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen shortly before the 2016 presidential election to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump in 2006. The president has denied having sex with her.

 

Avenatti represented Daniels in lawsuits related to the hush money and later in negotiating the deal for Daniels' book, "Full Disclosure," which was published in October.

 

Prosecutors said Avenatti diverted two $148,750 instalment payments from Daniels' $800,000 book advance by forging her signature in a letter to her literary agent and directing that the money be sent to his bank account.

 

Avenatti eventually paid $148,750 to Daniels after obtaining the funds from another source, but lied when she asked where the second payment was, according to prosecutors. Avenatti told Daniels the publisher "owes me a payment" and that he was "on it," prosecutors said.

 

Daniels has not received that payment, prosecutors said. She dropped Avenatti as her lawyer earlier this year.

 

Avenatti was arrested in March on charges of trying to extort more than $20 million from Nike by threatening to expose what he called its improper payments to recruits for college basketball teams it sponsored.

 

Nike has denied wrongdoing, and helped prosecutors before Avenatti's arrest.

 

At the same time, Avenatti was charged by prosecutors in Los Angeles with stealing millions of dollars from clients to pay for personal and business expenses and lying to the Internal Revenue Service and a Mississippi bank about his finances. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

 

Before his arrest, Avenatti was a fixture on cable news channels as an outspoken critic of Trump, and briefly toyed with running for president in 2020.

 

Michael Cohen is about three weeks into a three-year prison term after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations related to the hush money payment to Daniels and other financial crimes.

 

(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-05-29

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[bendejo]

Also his chain of cafes, Tully's, has gone down the tubes.

Looks like everything he has is crumbling.  Did he piss somebody off, ya think?

 

public defender Sylvie Levine entered a not guilty plea for Avenatti

public defender? 

 

 

 

[DoctorG]

1 hour ago, bendejo said:

public defender?

Yes, that raised my eyebrows too, until I saw he was engaging private lawyers. Hope they somehow manage to get paid in advance because he seems a little short of cash.

[sqwakvfr]

The Victim Defense:  Blame Trump, Blame the Foreigners, etc etc.  Good luck to him.  I did not realize Nike was part of the Trump Adminstration?

[Scott]

Troll post and reply removed.

 

[dcutman]

The Dem and MSM presidential golden boy, Trump slayer. Facing 400 years in prison for stealing from disabled people and old worn out prostitutes. Is anyone really surprised?

[bristolboy]

2 minutes ago, dcutman said:

The Dem and MSM presidential golden boy, Trump slayer. Facing 400 years in prison for stealing from disabled people and old worn out prostitutes. Is anyone really surprised?

Exactly how many endorsement did this "presidential golden boy" rack up? What polls did he lead in? Or even figure in? And calling Stormy Daniels a worn out prostitute reveals a lot about you and nothing at all about the facts of the case.

[dcutman]

6 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Exactly how many endorsement did this "presidential golden boy" rack up? What polls did he lead in? Or even figure in? And calling Stormy Daniels a worn out prostitute reveals a lot about you and nothing at all about the facts of the case.

 

[bristolboy]

19 minutes ago, dcutman said:

 

Nice dishoest piece of journalism there. "CNN backs Avenatti for President." One commentator on CNN liked him. That means CNN backed him? And of course, this does nothing to back up your dishonest claim that Avenatti was the golden boy for the democrats. Stop lying.

[atyclb]

if indeed he did ripoff stormy daniels, incredibly dumb move with his trophy client.

[atyclb]

On 5/30/2019 at 7:51 AM, bristolboy said:

On 5/30/2019 at 7:31 AM, dcutman said:

 

Nice dishoest piece of journalism there. "CNN backs Avenatti for President." One commentator on CNN liked him. That means CNN backed him? And of course, this does nothing to back up your dishonest claim that Avenatti was the golden boy for the democrats. Stop lying.

 

i would absolutely agree with you about "dishonest journalism" but the tv station never/did not claim cnn backs avenatti.   go to the actual clip on youtube below and u will see whoever posted it wrote  "CNN backs Avenatti for President"

 

 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2019 by atyclb

[brycspain]

Oh the irony.  CNN put this guy on about 60 times?  Maybe 30...I'm not sure but it was a lot because anybody who has bad things to say about Trump has instant credibility with our corrupt lying media.  The same CNN broadcasts over here and you guys eat it up as truth and it fake news.  Can't have it both ways. 

[Hank Gunn]

2 hours ago, brycspain said:

Oh the irony.  CNN put this guy on about 60 times?  Maybe 30...I'm not sure but it was a lot because anybody who has bad things to say about Trump has instant credibility with our corrupt lying media.  The same CNN broadcasts over here and you guys eat it up as truth and it fake news.  Can't have it both ways. 

According to a quick Google search, he was on CNN 121 times and on MSNBC over 100 times (dating back about one year); almost 1/3rd of the calendar year.

[brycspain]

29 minutes ago, atyclb said:

 

not defending cnn at all. you should re-read the posts that reached this point

You're right... Avenatti didn't even declare.

[bristolboy]

3 hours ago, brycspain said:

Every time they brought him on their network they endorsed him.

The comment I was replying to claimed that he was the Democrats' Presidential golden boy. Once again, how many Democrats endorsed his Presidential bid? Did CNN endorse his presidential bid?

[Rimmer]

A troll post has been removed

[atyclb]

40 minutes ago, brycspain said:

You're right... Avenatti didn't even declare.

i responded to a post that called it "dishonest journalism to say cnn supported avenatti for president. seems the poster did not have the intellectual curiosity/acumen to simply look at the original youtube clip as it showed the poster wrote "cnn backs avenatti" . and not fox news.

 

 

[bristolboy]

2 hours ago, atyclb said:

i responded to a post that called it "dishonest journalism to say cnn supported avenatti for president. seems the poster did not have the intellectual curiosity/acumen to simply look at the original youtube clip as it showed the poster wrote "cnn backs avenatti" . and not fox news.

 

 

No, you were being dishonest because you called him a Presidential golden boy who CNN backed. Did CNN ever give him an endorsement for President?

[atyclb]

39 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

No, you were being dishonest because you called him a Presidential golden boy who CNN backed. Did CNN ever give him an endorsement for President?

 

 

i give up

[chokrai]

I took one look at Avenatti and knew he was a total scumbag. Democrats and CNN/MSNBC took one look and fell in love. Anyone that hates Trump they love. Over and over they do this. Pretty sad really.

[bristolboy]

34 minutes ago, chokrai said:

I took one look at Avenatti and knew he was a total scumbag. 

Given your political predilections, that's a real shocker.

[chokrai]

52 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Given your political predilections, that's a real shocker.

What did you think of him?

[bristolboy]

7 minutes ago, chokrai said:

What did you think of him?

He seemed like a typical, aggressive high powered lawyer.

[atyclb]

16 hours ago, chokrai said:

I took one look at Avenatti and knew he was a total scumbag. Democrats and CNN/MSNBC took one look and fell in love. Anyone that hates Trump they love. Over and over they do this. Pretty sad really.

 

imo he was using stormy daniels to gain publicity/ market exposure(normal) and likely played the anti trump role to please cnn that had him on soo many times. academically he is a smart guy per his education that i looked up but he sounded foolish arguing with that harvard law professor (name escapes me)