Michael Avenatti has disappointed again. I was so looking forward to him using his platform from the past year of badly repping Stormy Daniels and parlaying it into an entertaining, if hopeless, run for office in 2020.
Oh well, wrong again.
Avenatti is alleged to have told Nike that he would cancel a press conference critical of the sports-apparel company only if it paid an unidentified client $1.5 million, and hired him and another California lawyer to conduct an internal investigation for $15 million to $25 million.
Avenatti on Monday posted a tweet saying we would be holding a press conference to disclose a “major high school/college basketball scandal” perpetrated by Nike that he claimed to have uncovered. “This criminal conduct reaches the highest levels of Nike and involves some of the biggest names in college basketball,” Avenatti said in the tweet.
Prosecutors in Los Angeles are scheduled to hold a press conference later on Monday. Nike didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.
Of course, Michael Avenatti is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Which we will grant him, because whatever our other faults, we should not stoop to his level.
Lmao!!!! Oh dear. How awful.
Why is it that the narcissists and showboats in this world can’t seem to get out of their own way?
Thanks, Andrew. 👍🏻Report
I’m not going to presume him guilty, but it looks like he is both extremely and deservedly screwed here, even if he manages to avoid criminal penalties for his incredibly sleazy conduct.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.Report
It has long been speculated that something bad is coming with Nike. The main players in the Adidas scandal that my beloved Cardinals got caught up in all came from Nike. Will be interesting to see if any substance comes from this.Report
Avenatti is probably right when he says that 90% of the claims about Nike shenanigans will be bullshit, but that 10% will be true, which would still be a lot of people. Without prejudging the outcome here, I’ll just say it’s *possible* Nike has moved into the “racket” phase of its business cycle.
BUT! as we’ve talked about at OT before, the way the NCAA manages college athletics makes it super-ripe for corruption, which also makes it hard to tease out who the bad actors are anymore.Report
Whomever runs for President in 2020 should run on a platform of being boring as hell.Report
A +5, insightful tweet here:
And a surprisingly sad one here:
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Basta? More like Stronzo!Report
Go home, 2019. You’re drunk.
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Jesus. It’s like the season finale where they are offing half the characters.Report