NEW YORK (AP) — A prosecutor kicked off opening statements at Michael Avenatti’s attempted extortion trial Wednesday by saying the deep-in-debt California lawyer used the “modern weapon” of a big social media following and clout as a television program guest to try to extort millions of dollars from Nike.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Sobelman told jurors in Manhattan that the lawyer, who gained fame by representing porn star Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against President Donald Trump, went to Nike after an amateur coach who felt cheated by the sportswear giant sought his help.
“He sold out his client and then tried to harm a major company,” Sobelman told jurors.
The prosecutor said Avenatti used “a weapon, a modern weapon” to try to force the company to pay him up to $25 million. That weapon, Sobelman said, was Avenatti’s large social media following and access to television shows.
“When he looked at the coach, he did not see a client to help,” the prosecutor said. “He saw dollar signs for himself.”
Defense attorney Howard Srebnick told jurors that Avenatti’s negotiations with Nike were “not extortion” but instead were the enthusiastic representation of a coach who thought his league of 40 teams in California was being sabotaged by Nike withdrawing its annual $72,000 sponsorship.
He agreed that the coach chose Avenatti to represent him because of his “ability to get the attention of Nike because he had the platform to do that” and said the coach and an adviser liked the lawyer’s “bravado.”
Srebnick, aware that some of the correspondence by his client would include profanity, warned the jury that Avenatti was “tenacious, bullish.”
“Sometimes, he’s outrageous and sometimes he might even be offensive,” Srebnick said. Then he quickly added: “It’s not extortion because you use harsh language in negotiating for a client.”
Avenatti has pleaded not guilty to trying to extort Oregon-based Nike in March 2019 by threatening to go public with evidence that the shoemaker had paid off the families of highly ranked high school basketball prospects. The trial is expected to last about 2 1/2 weeks.
He also faces an April trial in New York on charges that he cheated Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, of proceeds of a book deal and a May trial in Los Angeles on charges that he ripped off clients and others for millions of dollars.
He has denied all charges and maintained that he was targeted by the Trump administration after clashing with the president on social media and frequently criticizing him.
Prosecutors say Avenatti, 48, tried to leverage his ability to attract a large amount of attention to any public statements he might make to force Nike to pay between $15 million and $25 million to prevent damaging publicity.
Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe to prevent defense lawyers from mentioning Daniels and Trump, but the judge said it would be impossible because it would otherwise seem “Avenatti suddenly became this incredibly public lawyer magically.”
Avenatti grew so famous in the past two years that he considered a run for president after making over 100 appearances on cable television programs to talk about lawsuits Daniels brought against Trump over an affair she claimed occurred before he became president.
Avenatti has been held without bail since he was arrested in Los Angeles this month after prosecutors there said he violated the conditions of his $300,000 bail by moving money around improperly.