| In Nike Trial After Avenatti
Found Guilty Now Motions Due March 16
Sentencing June 17
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Thread
Song
Patreon
BBC
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SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Feb 18 – In the countdown of
the US v. Michael Avenatti
Nike extortion trial, on
February 10 the charging
conference was held, until
7:10 pm. See Patreon here.
On February
14 Avenatti was found guilty
on all three counts, and his
sentencing was set for June 17
at 4 pm.
Now on
February 18 Judge Gardephe has
docketed a briefing and
sentencing submission
schedule: "ORDER as to Michael
Avenatti. It is hereby ORDERED
that any post-trial motions
filed by Defendant are due by
March 16, 2020. The
Government's opposition is due
by April 6, 2020. Any reply
from Defendant is due by April
13, 2020. It is further
ORDERED that the sentencing of
the Defendant will take place
on June 17, 2020 at 4:00 p.m.
Any submissions on behalf of
the Defendant are due on May
28, 2020, and any submission
by the Government is due on
June 4, 2020. The Probation
Department is directed to
prepare a presentence
investigation report for the
Defendant. SO ORDERED."
Avenatti also
faces a February 25 status
conference in the Stormy
Daniels case, also in the U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York,
now before Judge Jesse Furman.
As the
jurors were polled about their
verdict, Avenatti stared
straight ahead; he was seen to
shake his head, once, as the
jurors filed out for the last
time. His lawyer Scott
Srebnick said he will appeal.
More on Patreon here.
An hour
after the verdict, US Attorney
Geoffrey S. Berman issued this
statement: "Today a unanimous
jury found Michael Avenatti
guilty of misusing his
client’s information in an
effort to extort tens of
millions of dollars from the
athletic apparel company
Nike. While the
defendant may have tried to
hide behind legal terms and a
suit and tie, the jury clearly
saw the defendant’s scheme for
what it was – an old fashioned
shakedown." Day's Twitter
thread here.
Some
wondered if Nike would be
putting out a gloating
statement, even though the
company was said at trial to
still face an SEC
investigation. Given the
evidence about Nike officials
Carlton Debose and Jamal James
arranging structured cash
payments of $10,000 to the
mother of DeAndre Ayton, it
seems more action is
necessary. But this is today's
action: Michael Avenatti,
guilty on all counts. More on
Patreon here.
Back on
February 12, after the reading
of a slightly tweaked jury
charge, the jury got the case
to deliberate. On February 13,
the jury asked a number of
questions, some of which Judge
Paul G. Gardephe expressed
frustration at. He told the
jury they could leave for the
day but to clarify one of its
questions, about recording(s)
of the March 21 meeting
involving Avenatti. Video of
that meeting here.
Another
question had a simple answer.
Is a filing of a lawsuit
request in order to reach a
settlement agreement? The
answer was and is No. Day's
live-tweeted thread here.
More on Patreon here.
Here's
audio of a question and answer
Inner City Press did on the
evening of February 12 with
ESPN Louisville, here.
More
on Patreon here.
The day before on
February 12 the jurors emerged
in late afternoon to request
to hear one of the Avenatti
phone calls (Inner City Press
has put them on Soundcloud here
and here
and a song here),
and requesting text messages
between Gary Franklin and
Jeffrey Auerbach.
More on Patreon here.
On
February 11, over hours, the
closing arguments were held.
Inner City Press live-tweeted
them, in 96 installments, here.
Assistant
US Attorney Matthew Podolsky
led off with the now famous
"have you held the clients
balls in your hands" audio,
and went on from there.
Avenatti's
lawyer Scott Srebnick covered
the case focusing on the
desired and goals of client
Gary Franklin and his
consultant Jeffrey Auerbach.
His brother
Howard Srebnick followed with
the case from the perspective
of Avenatti in New York,
saying he was carring out
Franklin's stated desire to
"light the fuse" for justice.
AUSA
Daniel Richenthal derided that
narrative, and told the jury
it didn't matter that Mark
Geragos, much less Nike, were
not charged. More on Patreon here.
The
case is US v. Avenatti,
19-cr-373 (Gardephe).
***
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