The alleged co-conspirator in the extortion case against celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti is reportedly Mark Geragos, Clare Bronfman’s lead attorney.
While Geragos, 61, was not named in the criminal complaint against Avenatti, prosecutors say in court papers that an unnamed attorney joined Avenatti in demanding that Nike pay millions of dollars, or risk being embarrassed by a scandal involving its sponsorship of an amateur basketball team.
It is not known if Geragos has been charged with a crime.
A source knowledgeable about the case told the AP that the co-conspirator was Geragos.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that two sources said the co-conspirator, referred to in the indictment as “CC-1”, a California attorney “known for representation of celebrity and public figure clients,” is Geragos.
It is not known whether Geragos is cooperating with investigators.
According to reports regarding the indictment, Avenatti and a co-conspirator [Geragos] “allegedly threatened to hold a news conference on the eve of Nike’s quarterly earnings call and the start of the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament to publicize alleged misconduct and maximize the damage such information could inflict on the company.”
If Nike’s lawyers wanted them to remain quiet, Avenatti allegedly said that he and Geragos would need to be paid between $15 million and $25 million to conduct an “internal investigation” into the athletic apparel company.
Avenatti said they would agree to a flat $22.5 million payment from Nike if the company did not want to keep them on retainer. $1.5 million of that amount was supposedly going to be paid to one of Avenatti’s clients.
Avenatti, who previously represented adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, was arrested Monday in the Southern District of NY – and charged in two federal cases with wire fraud, bank fraud and attempting to extort more than $20 million from Nike Inc.
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Geragos was also recently hired as a member of the legal defense team of Jussie Smollett, the Empire actor who has been charged over allegedly staging a fake hate crime against himself in February. He’s also currently a lawyer for Colin Kaepernick.
Geragos’ previous clients have included Michael Jackson and Chris Brown.
Last month, Clare Bronfman retained Geragos as her new lead attorney. A source familiar with the case said Geragos likely received a $3 million up-front retainer from Bronfman.
Geragos and Avenatti allegedly met with Nike lawyers on March 19 to make their demands, and the Boies Schiller law firm subsequently recorded another conversation with Avenatti at the request of prosecutors.
Just prior to his arrest, Avenatti tweeted he would be “holding a press conference to disclose a major high school/college basketball scandal perpetrated by Nike”.
CNN said today that Geragos, who has been a frequent commentator for CNN, is no longer a contributor for the network. Geragos did not respond to requests for comments.
How this will impact Geragos’s representation of Clare Bronfman remains to be seen. If he is charged, he may have to resign from the case.
In any event, Geragos will undoubtedly be distracted and certainly will not be able to focus completely on Bronfman’s defense as the days dwindle down heading toward the start of the Nxivm trial that is currently scheduled to begin with the jury selection process two weeks from today.
Some observers felt that the entry of Geragos as an attorney for Clare Bronfman signaled her departure from the joint defense arrangement that was largely orchestrated by Keith Raniere’s lead attorney, Marc Agnifilo.
Geragos was expected to be back in court – along with all the other defense attorneys and the five remaining defendants in the NXIVM/ESP case – at the April 4th Status Conference.
