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<\/picture><\/a><\/p>\nThe sentencing was the result of a hamfisted scheme to try and extort Nike after he uncovered “evidence” that the athletic apparel giant was inappropriately paying bribes to high school coaches and players, part of the ruthless relationship battle to strike sponsorship deals with the next generation of athletes. The corporate lawyers that Avenatti tried to extort immediately contacted the FBI, who asked them to wear a wire to a second meeting, where Avenatti was caught on tape demanding that Nike essentially pay him $25MM (via consulting contracts and other perks) or risk him going public with the damaging information, which he claimed would wipe billions of dollars’ of Nike’s market cap.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors\u00a0collected plenty of evidence on Avenatti<\/a>, and even found that Avenatti screwed over\u00a0the whistleblower coach who first came to him with the information on Nike.<\/a><\/p>\n According to reporters who were in the court room during Avenatti’s sentencing, the disgraced lawyer wept as he read a statement to the court, then cried some more after the sentence was handed down.<\/p>\n Federal Judge Paul Gardephe of the Southern District of New York – the same judge who presided over Avenatti’s early 2020 trial – sentenced the outspoken lawyer to 30 months (2.5 years). After handing down the sentence, the judge told the court that “Mr. Avenatti\u2019s conduct was outrageous. He hijacked his client\u2019s claims and he used those claims to further his own agenda \u2014 which was to extort millions of dollars from Nike to enrich himself.\u201d The Bush-appointee added: “Mr. Avenatti had become drunk on the power of his platform, or what he perceived the power of his platform to be. He had become someone who operated as if the laws and rules that apply to everyone else didn\u2019t apply to him.”<\/p>\n Geoffrey Berman, the former US attorney for the Southern District who prosecuted Avenatti, said in February 2020 that “while the defendant may have tried to hide behind legal terms and a suit and tie, the jury clearly saw the defendant\u2019s scheme for what it was \u2014 an old fashioned shakedown.”<\/p>\n Avenatti has been out of the spotlight since his arrest, which occurred back in 2019, just minutes after he bizarrely tweeted his plans to call a press conference to go public with his “dirt” on Nike.<\/p>\n During the sentencing hearing, the judge read some of the most infamous quotes from the evidence tape made by the Nike lawyers who surreptitiously recorded Avenatti: “I\u2019m not f*cking around with this, and I\u2019m not continuing to play games…You guys know enough now to know you\u2019ve got a serious problem. And it\u2019s worth more in exposure to me to just blow the lid on this thing. A few million dollars doesn\u2019t move the needle for me\u2026 I\u2019ll proceed with my press conference tomorrow and I\u2019ll hang up with you now and I\u2019ll call the New York Times\u2026 I\u2019ll go take and I\u2019ll go take ten billion dollars off your client\u2019s market cap.”<\/p>\n In another memorable clip, Avenatti said, “have you ever held the balls of the client in your hand where you can take five, six billion dollars in market cap off of \u2018em? This is gonna be a major f*cking scandal\u2026I\u2019m gonna be asking, why Nike hasn\u2019t been indicted. I\u2019m gonna break, I\u2019m gonna bring the power of my platform to bear \u2013 to expose what the f*ck is goin\u2019 on here\u2026 This is gonna be the biggest scandal in sports in a long time.”<\/p>\n The DoJ revealed during his trial that Avenatti was approximately $11MM in debt when he tried to extort Nike, debts that we had previously reported on. Avenatti enjoyed a luxe lifestyle that included living in luxury condominiums and traveling via private jet.<\/p>\n As we mentioned above, Avenatti had plenty of help from CNN and other networks which frequently booked him for interviews. He even once teased a presidential run.<\/p>\n