Michael Avenatti, Ex-Stormy Daniels Lawyer and Cable News Star, Sentenced to 30 Months For Nike Extortion Scheme

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Michael Avenatti, former attorney to Stormy Daniels, has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for extorting Nike.

“Mr. Avenatti’s conduct was outrageous. He hijacked his client’s claims, and he used those claims to further his own agenda,” U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe said during Thursday’s hearing, later adding, “Mr. Avenatti became drunk on the power of his platform — or what he perceived his platform to be.”

Avenatti was first convicted in February 2020 of attempted extortion, the transmission of interstate communications with intent to extort, and wire fraud in an effort to strip Nike of at least $25 million during what he called negotiations for his client Gary Franklin, an amateur basketball coach.

Avenatti was accused of trying to shake down the sneaker giant by threatening to expose a corruption scandal unless they paid him the sum.

“He had become someone who operated as if the laws and rules which apply to everyone else didn’t apply to him,” Gardephe said during Thursday’s hearing, condemning the lawyer yet only sentencing him to 30 months out of a potential 9 to 11 year prison sentence.

According to the Associated Press, Nike’s lawyers claimed in a victim-impact statement, that Avenatti did “considerable harm to the company by falsely trying to link it to a scandal in which bribes were paid to the families of NBA-bound college basketball players to steer them to powerhouse programs.”

Franklin also allegedly was unaware that Avenatti was using his name to negotiate a large payday with Nike, according to prosecutors.

“I betrayed my values, my friends, my family, and then, myself. I became driven by the things that don’t matter in life,” Avenatti told the judge on Thursday, adding, “TV and Twitter, your honor, mean nothing.”