Michael Avenatti Charged With Extortion And Wire, Bank, Fraud

Mar 25, 2019, 12:02 PM | Updated: Jun 8, 2022, 5:13 pm

FILE: Michael Avenatti (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

BY BRIAN MELLEY AND LARRY NEUMEISTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. prosecutors have charged President Donald Trump critic and attorney Michael Avenatti with extortion and bank and wire fraud.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles said Avenatti was arrested Monday in New York.

Spokesman Ciaran McEvoy says the lawyer best known for representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against President Donald Trump faces federal charges in New York and California.

In New York, he was accused of threatening to use his ability to get publicity to harm Nike. Prosecutors say he demanded that the apparel company give him $10 million.

Prosecutors in California planned to release more details at a news conference later Monday.

Avenatti represented Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, in a lawsuit to break a confidentiality agreement to speak about her alleged affair with Trump.

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