Prosecutors Drop Conspiracy Counts Against Avenatti in Nike Extortion Case
Avenatti still faces an additional charge of honest services wire fraud, prosecutors told a judge Wednesday in a letter.
(Bloomberg) -- Federal prosecutors dropped conspiracy charges against celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti in a case charging him with trying to extort millions of dollars from Nike Inc.
But in a revised indictment, Avenatti faces an additional charge of honest services wire fraud, prosecutors told a judge Wednesday in a letter.
The U.S. claims Avenatti demanded as much as $25 million from Nike in exchange for canceling a potentially damaging press conference about the company. At the time, Avenatti was representing a coach who claimed to have information about improper payments made to athletes.
“This case should have never been filed,” Avenatti said Wednesday. “I will be fully exonerated when it is all said and done.”
The case is U.S. v. Avenatti, 19-cr-00373, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
--With assistance from Erik Larson.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Dolmetsch in Federal Court in Manhattan at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg
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