Michael Avenatti Comes for Nike...

[admin]

But Just Do It doesn’t *always* apply to shakedowns. Lawyer-to-the-stars Avenatti was arrested yesterday in NYC on charges of attempting to extortup to $25 million from Nike (+0.17%).

Yes, that Nike. Avenatti reportedly threatened to reveal that the company greenlighted payments to the families of top basketball recruits—unless Nike paid an unnamed client $1.5 million and agreed to hire Avenatti and another lawyer for $15 to $25 million (but a one-time payment of $22.5 million would also work).

The timeline: Avenatti tweeted pre-cuffs that he’d hold a presser at 11am today profiling Nike’s "criminal conduct" that "involves some of the biggest names in college basketball."

^{Via @MichaelAvenatti}

Avenatti allegedly told Nike lawyers last week that if his demands weren’t met, he’d "take $10 billion off your client’s market cap...I’m not [word that autocorrects to ducking] around."

The trouble wasn’t confined to just one coast. In an unrelated case, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles charged Avenatti with wire fraud and bank fraud.