AVENATTI FOUND GUILTY IN NIKE EXTORTION CASE

NEW YORK Michael Avenatti, the brash attorney who became a ferocious critic of the U.S. President Donald Trump, while representing an adultfilm actress at the centre of his hush-money scandal, was found guilty Friday of charges he sought to extort sports apparel giant Nike.

The verdict caps a downfall for the one-time presidential aspirant who, as a lawyer for Stormy Daniels, leveraged his news appearances to antagonize Trump.

Avenatti was accused of demanding as much as $33 million from Nike while threatening to expose alleged misconduct within the company.

After about two weeks of testimony, jurors were asked to consider three charges: transmission of interstate communications with intent to extort, attempted extortion and honest services wire fraud. They found him guilty on all counts.

Avenatti is scheduled to be sentenced June 17. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on each of the top counts.