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Shira Tarlo, Salon

Stories By Shira Tarlo, Salon

Stormy Daniel's lawyer Michael Avenatti was $15 million in debt during Nike extortion: prosecutors

Stormy Daniel's lawyer Michael Avenatti was $15 million in debt during Nike extortion: prosecutors

Michael Avenatti was more than $15 million in debt when he tried to extort as much as $25 million from Nike, prosecutors alleged in court papers filed Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said they will demonstrate at an upcoming trial that Avenatti owed "conservatively, in excess of $15 million" to "various sources" and that evidence will show that he had "extraordinary indebtedness, and thus the need and motive to quickly generate substantial sums of money at the time when he engaged in the charged conduct."