BREAKING: Michael Avenatti: guilty of extortion

Porn lawyer and failed CNN candidate for the presidency Michael Avenatti was convicted in federal court on three counts of attempting to extort $25 million from Nike. He will probably need to go shopping for "Soap on a Rope" because he certainly doesn't want to drop it in the prison shower.

“The verdict was returned Friday by a Manhattan federal jury after it deliberated charges of attempted extortion and honest services fraud in what prosecutors say was an attempt by Avenatti to extort up to $25 million from Nike with threats to otherwise harm it,” The Associated Press reported. “The charges carry a combined potential penalty of 42 years in prison.”

Avenatti gained his fame by setting up shop in the hallways of CNN where he was lauded as the next Democratic president. He sent chills up both legs of Brian Stelter and had Chris Matthews inviting him for a cup of coffee.

The crooked lawyer represented porn performer Stormy Daniels [aka Stephanie Clifford] in a lawsuit against President Trump. In October 2016, Trump's personal lawyer and card-carrying idiot, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 to have her deny she had an affair with Trump in 2006. Although Trump spokespeople denied the affair, nobody who knows Trump that voted for him gives a damn of the veracity of the claim. 

Subsequently, Daniels claimed that Avenatti owes her $300,000 that he denies owing. Federal prosecutors in New York City said Avenatti used a doctored document to divert that money Daniels was supposed to receive as an advance on a book deal. Then the scumbag lawyer was alleged to use the money for his personal and business expenses. He only paid back half of what he owed her, prosecutors say.

Regarding the current extortion charge, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “As alleged, Avenatti used illegal and extortionate threats for the purpose of obtaining millions of dollars in payments from a public company. Calling this anticipated payout a retainer or a settlement doesn’t change what it was – a shakedown. When lawyers use their law licenses as weapons, as a guise to extort payments for themselves, they are no longer acting as attorneys. They are acting as criminals, and they will held responsible for their conduct.”

This is probably the tip of the iceberg, or in Avenatti's case, the floater in the kid's pool. There will likely be a lot more to follow.

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