By: Herman Krenmeier
The man that Fox News host Tucker Carlson calls the “creepy porn lawyer,” Michael Avenatti, received a tongue lashing in court last week from an attorney for Nike.
Lawyer Scott Wilson described meetings in which he says Avenatti allegedly attempted to extort $20 million from the company by threatening to expose alleged corruption.
As Wilson said in his testimony, “I said to Mr Avenatti, ‘You may not care about the company, you may not care about me, but if you go live with allegations naming a 17, 18 year old player… you could really destroy the lives of these players. You could end the career of these kids.’ Avenatti leaned forward and he shouted, ‘I don’t give a (blank) about these kids,’ or ‘I don’t give a (blank) about these kids.’”
Also featuring in the testimony were audio tapes from a trio of phone calls that allegedly took place in March of last year. They were recorded by federal investigators. In them, Wilson said he tried to ascertain how much money Avenatti was trying to get from Nike. “Scott, listen. I’m not playing around with this,” Avenatti allegedly said on one of the recordings. “I’m not continuing to play games. This isn’t complicated. A few million dollars doesn’t move the needle for me. I’m just being frank with you.”
As Wilson said in court, “My jaw hit the table. I was trying to keep a straight face, and even demeanor, but I was really quite shocked.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky “claimed defense lawyers were trying to sneak into the trial suspicion about Nike’s motives to create a “complete sideshow to distract the jury to what this trial is not about,” reported AP. “Defense lawyers have said Nike tried to win favor with prosecutors who were investigating the company, portraying itself as a victim and Avenatti as a villain.”
Avenatti, once floated as a possible Democratic Party candidate for president, famously represented adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in her lawsuits against President Donald Trump in an attempt to void a non-disclosure agreement she had signed. Avenatti also represented Daniels in a related defamation suit against Trump, according to Wikipedia. In September 2018 Avenatti introduced a written declaration accusing then-nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh of spiking drinks at parties for the purpose of allowing girls to be gang raped when he was in high school. The accuser later repudiated the declaration in an interview with NBC News, claiming Avenatti had misrepresented her allegations; Kavanaugh was subsequently confirmed to the Court.
