By Jonathan Stempel
By Jonathan Stempel
Feb 14 (Reuters) – A U.S. jury on Friday discovered Michael Avenatti responsible in a legal trial accusing the superstar lawyer of making an attempt to extort Nike Inc NKE.N out of tens of millions of {dollars} and defraud a youth basketball coach he represented.
The brash lawyer was all however unknown till two years in the past when he started representing the grownup movie actress Stormy Daniels in lawsuits in opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump and making tons of of tv appearances.
Avenatti’s sentencing was scheduled for June 17. He might face greater than 40 years in jail.
Jurors deliberated for 2-1/2 days in deciding whether or not Avenatti tried to shake down Nike by threatening to publicize allegations the sports activities attire firm made unlawful funds to households of faculty basketball recruits. Nike has denied wrongdoing.
Prosecutors mentioned Avenatti, 48, threatened Nike with a press convention to publicize the funds and take a number of billion of…