LOS ANGELES (AP) Attorney Mark Geragos has had a long career representing high-profile clients including Michael Jackson, Colin Kaepernick and Jussie Smollett. Now Geragos might need a defense attorney himself after being named in a case accusing lawyer Michael Avenatti of trying to extort Nike.
Geragos is not charged with a crime but two people familiar with the investigation confirmed Monday that he is the unidentified co-conspirator in court papers charging Avenatti with attempting to shake down Nike for $25 million by threatening the company with bad publicity. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not made public by prosecutors.
Geragos, 61, didn't respond to requests for comment.
For decades the media savvy attorney has defended headline-grabbing cases involving troubled Hollywood stars like Winona Ryder and Chris Brown and wife killer Scott Peterson.
A longtime CNN contributor, Geragos appeared on the network this month to discuss the case against his client Jussie Smollett, the "Empire" actor accused of fabricating a racist, anti-gay attack in Chicago. Within hours of the extortion case breaking, CNN cut ties with him.
"He is in many ways the face of the legal profession because of his years on CNN," said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, where Geragos earned his law degree. "For people who are in the know in Los Angeles, they can name a couple of lawyers, and he is one of them."
Levinson said she was surprised by Geragos' connection to the extortion case. He has a solid reputation in the profession and no history of misconduct, she said.
Last year, Geragos helped negotiate a multiyear, multimillion-dollar deal between Nike and Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL player known for inspiring other players to protest police brutality, racial inequality and other social issues. In announcing the agreement on Twitter, Geragos called Kaepernick an "All American Icon."
Geragos' website bio describes him as "the only lawyer besides Johnnie Cochran ever named 'Lawyer of the Year' in both Criminal and Civil arenas."
He was admitted to the bar in 1983 and made his name in the 1990s when he got an acquittal in an embezzlement case against Susan McDougal, who was previously convicted in the Whitewater scandal involving President Bill Clinton. A few years later he represented Clinton's brother, Roger Clinton, in a drunken-driving case.
He got probation for Winona Ryder after the actress was convicted by a jury in a felony grand theft case, and for Chris Brown, the singer who pleaded guilty to assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna.
Perhaps most prominently, Geragos represented Michael Jackson after the pop superstar was accused of child molestation. Jackson ultimately replaced Geragos, saying he wanted a lawyer who would devote his full time to the case.
Geragos was simultaneously representing Scott Peterson, a California fertilizer salesman who was eventually found guilty of murdering his pregnant wife.
He later represented Jackson in a separate case and settled a lawsuit for $2.5 million against the owner of a charter jet company that secretly recorded the singer while he flew on a private plane.
A Los Angeles native with Armenian roots, he's been a champion of efforts to have the 1915 Armenian Genocide recognized at the national level.
It's unclear what his connection is with Avenatti, the bellicose attorney best known for representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against President Donald Trump. Avenatti said he's confident he'll be "fully exonerated" after being arrested Monday on charges including extortion and bank and wire fraud.
If true, he even gives bad lawyers a bad name 
LOS ANGELES (AP) Even before federal prosecutors unsealed charges against Michael Avenatti, the lawyer best known for representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in legal battles against President Donald Trump was facing legal scrutiny for his business practices.
Avenatti was testifying last Friday in his own defense in a civil case that included allegations he pocketed $1.6 million from a client as federal authorities were filing a criminal case against him that included that claim.
Avenatti, 48, faces charges in California for allegedly filing bogus tax returns to secure $4 million in loans and embezzling the client's settlement funds. He faces charges in New York of threatening to release damaging information against Nike if it didn't pay him and another lawyer up to $25 million.
About 12 hours after he was released from custody, Avenatti returned to his combative form Tuesday and went on the offensive, accusing Nike of "rampant" corruption.
He claimed on Twitter that Nike funneled "large sums" of money to elite student-athletes bound for top colleges and said the corruption reached the company's highest levels.
Prosecutors have not commented on whether Avenatti's information about Nike was accurate but said he crossed a line by trying to enrich himself with threats.
A Nike spokesman declined to answer questions about Avenatti's tweets. The company said in a statement Monday that it will "not be extorted or hide information that is relevant to a government investigation."
While Avenatti confidently declared after his release from custody that he would be exonerated and told CBS "the facts are on my side," he acknowledged he is concerned about the charges.
"I'm nervous, I'm scared," he said. "If I wasn't, it wouldn't make a lot of sense."
The arrest of Avenatti, who seized the spotlight as a Trump antagonist and considered his own run for president, came as a surprise to many but not to some people who have worked with him.
Jason Frank was an independent contractor for the firm of Eagan Avenatti, which went through bankruptcy proceedings. He has been seeking compensation he claims he's owed for work done before he resigned in 2016, according to federal court filings.
Frank is still trying to collect a $10 million judgment his firm won against Eagan Avenatti and a $4 million personal judgment against Avenatti.
Avenatti repeatedly failed to turn over court-ordered records, and deposited millions of dollars of client fees into accounts hidden during bankruptcy proceedings, Frank's lawyers wrote in filings seeking a court-appointed receiver.
"The conduct described in the criminal complaint is the conduct we've seen Mr. Avenatti engage in with respect to his debts to his partners going back years," attorney Andrew Stolper said. "What you see is a lawyer using his kind of inside knowledge of the legal system."
Most of a nearly $1.4 million payment sent to Eagan Avenatti as part of a settlement with the NFL was funneled to an account for personal expenses such as rent on a luxury apartment and monthly payments on a Ferrari, Frank's lawyers said.
On Friday, Stolper questioned Avenatti under oath at a debtor exam about a $4 million payment his firm received from Los Angeles County on behalf of a paraplegic man who tried to kill himself in jail.
Avenatti testified that he paid the firm's client, Geoffrey Johnson, all the money he was owed, but checks show Johnson received monthly payments totaling no more than a couple of hundred thousand dollars over the past three years, Stolper said.
In an email to The Associated Press, Avenatti said Johnson approved all transactions and accounting and has been kept in the loop.
"He has repeatedly thanked me for my dedication to his case and the ethics I have employed," Avenatti wrote.
Avenatti was also questioned in court about the case of Gregory Barela, whom he negotiated a $1.9 million settlement for in an intellectual property dispute against a Colorado company, according to court records.
Barela hired new lawyers to chase the money down after he said Avenatti would not pay him. Barela's lawyers went to the FBI after finding records that an initial $1.6 million of the settlement was paid to Avenatti.
Attorney Steven Bledsoe sat in court Friday afternoon as Avenatti repeatedly dodged questions and denied stiffing Barela.
"Avenatti testified he paid Mr. Barela everything he was owed without ever identifying any payment," Bledsoe said. "Documents show he didn't pay anything. It was just B.S."
Avenatti said all monies had been accounted for and he said Barela "has a long rap sheet" and is on probation "for making false statements in an effort to obtain money."
Prosecutors also dispute Avenatti's account of where the money went.
While he was still on the witness stand in Los Angeles, prosecutors filed a wire fraud charge in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana accusing Avenatti of embezzling from Barela.
A Internal Revenue Service investigator said in court documents that Barela was on probation for felony theft, but said that the investigation relied on documents to support their case.
Prosecutors said Avenatti deceived Barela about the date he received the payment and never turned it over to him. At one point, he provided a $130,000 "advance" on the payment he already received and later offered to loan Barela $100,000 if he paid interest.
"It appears Mr. Avenatti loaned the client's own money to the client," U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said in announcing the charges. "Money that Mr. Avenatti had already secretly collected."
Attorney Ken White, a former federal prosecutor, said the relatively short criminal complaints without disclosing too much evidence indicates prosecutors are confident they have a strong case. Indictments are likely to offer more information and, possibly, additional charges that could include evidence uprooted by Frank.
"It will be interesting to see when the indictment finally comes down to what extent it's going to mirror more of what his former partner's been saying," White said.
