By Jonathan Stempel
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK, Jan 27 (Reuters) – The decide overseeing Michael Avenatti’s extortion trial mentioned the case mustn’t give attention to Nike Inc’s NKE.N alleged corruption or devolve into celeb name-dropping, as jury choice started for the case in opposition to the lawyer and critic of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Prosecutors accused Avenatti, 48, of making an attempt to shake down Nike for as much as $25 million by threatening to publicize accusations it illegally paid households of faculty basketball recruits, until it employed him and one other celeb lawyer, Mark Geragos, to conduct an inner probe.
Avenatti countered that he was merely doing his job representing a whistleblowing coach in negotiations with Nike.
Prosecutors mentioned he additionally defrauded the coach by concealing a settlement supply made by Nike, as a result of Avenatti was closely in debt and needed tens of millions of {dollars} for himself.
Avenatti has pleaded not responsible. Nike has denied…