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Michael Avenatti was arrested earlier this week for allegedly threatening to extort $25 million from Nike. Avenatti claims to have evidence that company employees authorized payments to top high school basketball players families. Avenatti was threatening to make those claims public. He also faces charges for embezzling a client’s money to pay his own debts. If convicted, he faces up to 100 years in prison and disbarment.

Avenatti has denied the charges in a tweet:“I want to thank all of my supporters for your kind words and support today. It means a lot to me. I am anxious for people to see what really happened. We never attempted to extort Nike & when the evidence is disclosed, the public will learn the truth about Nike’s crime & coverup.”

Nike has not responded to requests for comments, though Avenatti maintains Nike is involved in major college athletics fraud.

In November of 2018, Avenatti was arrested on charges of domestic violence. Those charges were later dropped. Avenatti also made news for surrendering tapes that incriminated R. Kelly to Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx in Chicago, Illinois.

Avenatti became popular by representing porn star Stormy Daniels’s attorney and suing Trump for defamation when Trump denied the payments. Avenatti then trickled information out to the media and promised to reveal facts that would further humiliate Trump. This catapulted him into the national spotlight.

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