Michael Avenatti Renews Attacks On Nike For Basketball Misdeeds After His Arrest For Extortion

Just a day after being charged for wire and bank fraud against Nike, Michael Avenatti has renewed his attacks on the retail giant. The infamous lawyer took to his Twitter account on Tuesday to call out the company for refusing to cooperate with investigators and for orchestrating a cover-up of their misdeeds.

Avenatti tweeted in response to a report that a Nike grassroots college basketball division was served with a subpoena as part of the wider investigation into college basketball corruption.

He wrote that despite what Nike claimed in the wake of the charges against him, Nike hasn’t been cooperating with investigators, and accused the company of lying and withholding documents in order to avoid being caught. He also alleged that former Arizona Wildcats player and Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton was paid by Nike, as was Oregon freshman Bol Bol.

“Ask DeAndre Ayton and Nike about the cash payments to his mother and others. Nike’s attempt at diversion and cover-up will fail miserably once prosecutors realize they have been played by Nike and their lawyers at Boies. This reaches the highest levels of Nike,” he continued on Twitter.

He also called the lawsuit against him a “diversion” and vowed to continue exposing the company.

“Bol Bol and his handlers also received large sums from Nike. The receipts are clear as day. A lot of people at Nike will have to account for their criminal conduct, starting with Carlton DeBose & moving higher up. The diversion charade they orchestrated against me will be exposed,” he concluded with a tweet.

Contrary to Nike’s claims yesterday, they have NOT been cooperating with investigators for over a year. Unless you count lying in response to subpoenas and withholding documents as “cooperating.” They are trying to divert attention from their own crimes.https://t.co/chJEhbsxTH

— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) March 26, 2019

As The Inquisitr previously reported, Avenatti was charged on Monday with extorting more than $20 million from Nike. He is alleged to have met with an attorney for the company this year and threatened to reveal information that could harm the company if they didn’t pay him and his client money. Prosecutors say that Avenatti had an accomplice, which hasn’t been named.

Avenatti was released on Monday under a $30,000 bond.

All this went down shortly after Avenatti announced that he would be holding a press conference to discuss his allegations about Nike, claiming that the corruption extended into the upper levels of the company and involved some of the most well-known players in college basketball.

Speculation suggests that the client he is referencing is, in addition to Ayton, AAU coach Gary Franklin of the California Supreme in Los Angeles. Avenatti claims Nike had funded payments to high school basketball players or their parents.

Avenatti was also charged with bank and wire fraud in California.