Attorney facing extortion charges says Deandre Ayton, Bol Bol linked to Nike payments
Michael Avenatti, an attorney who represented adult film actress Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against President Donald Trump, followed up on his Monday promise to reveal information about Nike related to a college basketball recruiting scandal.
It came on the heels of the federal prosecutors charging Avenatti on allegedly trying to extort Nike for more than $20 million “in exchange in exchange for evidence he said he had of misconduct by company employees in the recruitment of college basketball players,” The New York Times reported.
On Tuesday, Avenatti decided to follow through on his earlier promise and accused Nike of making cash payments to two top recruits.
One is Phoenix Suns rookie Deandre Ayton, who played one year of college basketball at Arizona last season, and the other is Bol Bol, the son of former NBA player Manute Bol.
Bol Bol grew up in the Kansas City suburb of Olathe, Kansas, and played at Oregon before an injury ended his freshman season. He’s expected to turn pro.
The Ducks are in the Sweet 16 and one of the school’s donors is Phil Knight, a Nike co-founder and Oregon alumnus.
The Eugene Register-Guard reported Oregon head coach Dana Altman has no information about the accusation and no reason to believe it’s correct.
Ayton was linked to the Adidas recruiting scandal involving two dozen schools that resulted in three men receiving prison sentences. Another trial is scheduled for April.
According to the Times, Nike said in a statement that it “will not be extorted or hide information that is relevant to a government investigation. Nike has been cooperating with the government’s investigation into NCAA basketball for over a year.”
This story was originally published March 26, 2019 at 10:28 AM with the headline "Attorney facing extortion charges says Deandre Ayton, Bol Bol linked to Nike payments."
