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US ATTORNEY MICHAEL Avenatti, who shot to fame by representing adult film star Stormy Daniels, was arrested today after being accused of trying to extort money from Nike and embezzling a client’s money.
Details about the accusations – contained in separate cases filed in New York and Los Angeles – were to be disclosed at press conferences in both cities.
The celebrity lawyer represented Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump and his former lawyer Michael Cohen.
According to the complaint filed in New York and involving Nike, the celebrity lawyer “devised a scheme to extort a company by means of an interstate communication by threatening to damage the company’s reputation if the company did not agree to make multi-million-dollar payments to Avenatti and (co-conspirator), and further agree to pay an additional $1.5 million to a client of Avenatti’s.”
The complaint states that Avenatti, 48, and the unnamed co-conspirator met with attorneys for Nike on 19 March and threatened to disclose damaging information about the company unless it made the payments.
The following day, in a phone conversation with the attorneys, Avenatti stated that if his demands were not met he would “take $10 billion off your client’s market cap … I’m not fucking around,” according to the complaint.
Less than an hour before his arrest in New York was announced, Avenatti tweeted that he would be holding a press conference on Tuesday to “disclose a major high school/college basketball scandal perpetrated by @Nike that we have uncovered.”
“This criminal conduct reaches the highest levels of Nike and involves some of the biggest names in college basketball,” he added.
It was not clear what potential scandal he might have been referring to.
According to the complaint filed in Los Angeles, Avenatti – who had once entertained the possibility of running for president – embezzled a client’s money in order to pay his own expenses and debts and also defrauded a bank by using phony tax returns to obtain millions of dollars in loans.
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That’s a significant shortfall. I would imagine compensation and workload are barriers to recruitment. Good luck with that….
This could be a good time for a Fact Check…..
Is there a sign on window staff wanted apply within.
Are all of these vacancies at front line medical staff level or are they ALL vacancies – admin, cleaning, managerial etc.? It would be good to know the facts.
It might shock you to realise that without admin and support staff a hospital simply couldn’t operate. Who buys in supplies? Who delivers them to the wards and theatre? Who negotiates with suppliers for best price? Who runs the tenders for the big contracts to ensure top service and value for money? Your money, you the taxpayer. And that’s only one area of admin. Who pays the suppliers to ensure continuance of supply? We lowly admin people may not be treating patients but our contribution is vital to the smooth running of the hospital. It’ll also interest you to know that most hospitals have outside contractors for cleaning and so those staff wouldn’t be included in the numbers.
“Top service and value for money” ….are you having a laugh. The public service is hamstrung by the unions who do not allow any flexibility of work practices. Demarcation is the order of the day! And as for procurement, the public service procurement function is the absolute worst example of how to get value for the tax payer!
We are operating under EU procurement rules. So go and take it up with them. Or why don’t you come in and do a better job if we’re making such a hash of it. We have had to be very flexible in the last few years as nobody who left was replaced. So the work had to be absorbed by the remaining staff. But hey, don’t listen to someone who is actually working in the area, sit back at your keyboard and criticise a job you don’t do and are therefore clueless about. Better still, sack all the admin staff and give all their work to the frontline staff. And watch hospitals collapse under the strain. Idiot!
If you want to contact someone in the hospital who do you ring? Admin staff. If you want to know when a test is? Admin staff. Need to query something with a doctor/nurse? Admin staff. Need the hospital cleaned? Admin staff. Need the patients fed? Admin staff. Need patients transported around the hospital? Admin staff. I could go on.
I would say staff shortages will soon cost more than they save once the lawsuits for patients not receiving enough care start happening.
Living in Dublin is just too expensive. Until the housing emergency is solved this will only get worse.
And you can thank Kenny, Noonan and Burton for that. Great thinkers and forward planners!
I can imagine the adverts trying to woo nurses, doctors and physios home “come to Ireland, where you will be paid less, taxed more, be scapegoated by your manager, the hospital, the HSE and the government, where politicians will spin things to make the public think you are overpaid and underworked….”. I can imagine those living in Australia, Canada etc chomping at the bit to leave their well paid and respected jobs to come home.
” keep the recovery going” brings a whole new meaning to noonan’s comment. . .
Following an injury (dislocated shoulder) I ended up in the casualty department in Beaumont at 22:30. I got the best treatment. Everybody was so so nice and so efficient. No waiting.
For all my follow up appointments I ve been seen within 15mins of the given time. (Today I’ve been seen by the physio 5 minutes before the time.)
Well done to all the staff there. They deserve a medal!
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