| In
Nike Extortion Trial Avenatti Renews Bid
For Jury to See Auerbach Slay the Dragon
Texts
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Song
Thread
BBC
- Decrypt
- LightRead - Honduras
-
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Feb 6 – When after three
days of jury selection the
trial of Michael Avenatti for
allegedly extorting Nike began
on January 29, Assistant US
Attorney Robert Sobelman told
the selected jurors that
Avenatti was supposed to look
out for the interests of his
client, but he did not - he
had a weapon, social
media. More on 1st day
on Patreon here.
On February
5 the Nike lawyer who attended
the meeting in New York with
Avenatti and Mark Geragos was
on the stand. Under cross
examination by E. Danya Perry
he admitted knowing that
invoices were bogus, to Shaun
Manning to move players to
Peach Jam. Day's live tweeted
thread here.
Overnight,
Avenatti's lawyers have by
letter motion asked Judge
Gardephe to reconsider his
rulings exclusive text
messages and emails between
Auerback and Gary Franklin,
set to testify. They wrote in
part, "Inasmuch as Auerbach
has testified, and Franklin
will testify, about what they
wanted, believed, understood,
and how they reacted – leading
up to their meeting with Mr.
Avenatti – we should be able
to show the jury the quantity
and context of the text
message exchanges, which paint
a more complete picture of
their then-existing “motive,
intent, or plan” and
directives to each other under
Rule 803(3). So, for example,
although Mr. Auerbach
testified that he was
interested in “diplomacy” and
“re-forging” the relationship
with Nike, the jury should be
allowed to see text messages
where Mr. Auerbach
communicates, in writing,
that, among other things, he
and Mr. Franklin have to “go
after Nike,” “slay the
dragon,” “f--k these
assholes,” and the like." But
how will Judge Gardephe view
it? More on Patreon here.
At the end of the
February 5 trial day, Judge
Gardephe grew frustrated,
including at the government
trying to keep this evidence
out. The question remains,
what has happened with the
investigation of Nike, now
that these admission have been
made on the record? Also on
the record: that Avenatti
bragged he had Rebecca Ruiz
ready to write any story he
wanted. Is it true? Watch this
site. More on Patreon here.
On
February 3, Gary Franklin's
pro bono consultant Jeffrey
Auerbach took the stand. Inner
City Press was in the
courtroom's second row when
Assistant US Attorney Robert
Sobelman walked Auerbach
through testimony about
Avenatti saying he was headed
to New York on a red-eye to
get $1 million for Gary
Franklin.
As
Auerbach gave his opinion,
Avenatti vigorously shook his
head, with hair on the sides
above the ears. He took notes
that apparently went into the
cross examination, to which
Sobelman repeatedly objected.
Finally Judge Gardephe said,
You are objecting to a
document you the prosecutors
put into the record. Again the
payments to Deandre Ayton,
mother and handler Melvin
McDonalnd, to Bol Bol and to
Shaun Manning Brandon McCoy
came up. People wanted to know
more but there are limits.
More on Patreon
here.
On January
31 Inner City Press published
the March 25, 2019 draft
settlement agreements, with
dollar figure left blank, here
on Scribed
and on Patreon for
download here,
as well as the more than one
hour video of Avenatti's and
Mark Geragos' meeting with
Nike's outside counsel, Scott
Wilson of Boies Schiller, here.
Inner City
Press has also published three
audio records of Wilson's
conversations on March 20,
2019 with Geragos, and
Avenatti, saying "I'm not
f*cking around." Audio I,
II
and III.
More including transcripts on
Patreon here.
We will
have more on this, here and on
Patreon.
Inner City Press live-tweeted
the start of the proceedings,
here,
and since and will have more.
More
on Patreon here. The
case is US v. Avenatti,
19-cr-373 (Gardephe).
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA
Mail: Box 20047, Dag
Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2020 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com for
|
,
