Controversial attorney Michael Avenatti released documents Saturday that he says prove Nike paid the handler of former Arizona star Deandre Ayton $28,000 while giving his mother another $10,000 before Ayton committed to the Wildcats in September 2016.
Avenatti also alleged that Ayton's family had about $5,000 in travel expenses paid for by credit cards linked to California Supreme, the club team that Ayton played for in 2016, when it was sponsored by Nike.
In addition, Avenatti released documents that he claimed proved Nike also paid handlers for Oregonβs Bol Bol and former UNLV player Brandon McCoy.
Avenatti was charged last month with trying to extort up to $25 million from Nike and bilking settlement funds from a client. Prosecutors say Avenatti demanded that Nike pay $1.5 million to his client and even more to himself and his firm.
Avenatti was representing Gary Franklin, the former California Supreme director who claimed to know that one or more Nike employees had authorized payments to high school stars and their families. Since his arrest, Avenatti has been tweetingΒ what he says is proofΒ of Nike's payments to star high school players and their families, and detailing β without proof β how he says Nike paid the mother ofΒ Duke star Zion Williamson for βconsulting services.β
The latest batch of documents, released by Avenatti via Twitter on Saturday, show a $28,000 wire payment to Ayton's handler, Melvin McDonald, occurring in April 2016. Avenatti also included details he previously provided about the alleged $10,000 payment to Andrea Ayton.
2/2 - Nike should be criminally indicted on well over 200 counts and should also explain why they misled their investors/the SEC. If I'm lying or the docs are not legit, I challenge @nike to issue a stmt claiming no bribes were ever paid. Just Do It Nike!https://t.co/4gi8MQRcQB
β Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 6, 2019
On March 27, Avenatti posted a bank statement showing two withdrawals of $5,000 each β one on June 28, 2016 and another on June 30, 2016. He added what appeared to be a text message conversation between Nike rep Carlton DeBose and Franklin, in which Franklin refers to a June 29, 2016 trip to Phoenix as βmy mission.β
βNike had cash hand-delivered to avoid discovery by law enforcement and the NCAA," Avenatti tweeted.
The documents he posted Saturday alleging the near $5,000 in travel expenses to Ayton's family said that the related statements are "forthcoming."
Ayton committed to Nike-sponsored Arizona in September 2016 after earlier favoring Kansas, an Adidas-sponsored program. During the firstΒ federal college basketball trial in October, former Adidas consultant T.J. Gassnola testified that he gave a family friend of Ayton's $15,000 with hopes of luring the star center to Kansas.
Avenatti's 41-page document dump Saturday purports to show payments to the handler of McCoy, a former UNLV player and onetime UA recruiting target. The documents show that the handler received $15,000, and that McDonald received another $29,258 in 2017 as the handler for Oregon center Bol Bol.
Bol, who also played for Cal Supreme, was considering Arizona but dropped the Wildcats from his list of finalists after the college basketball investigation became public in September 2017. Another Cal Supreme player, Shareef O'Neal, committed to Arizona but backed out after ESPN reported that UA coach Sean Miller discussed paying Ayton $100,000 with aspiring agent Christian Dawkins. Miller denied the report, saying he has βnever knowingly violated NCAA rulesβ while at Arizona. Miller added that the ESPN report "sullied the name of a tremendous young man, Deandre Ayton."
Federal prosecutors filed a motion Friday they hope will keep UA coach Sean Miller and LSU's Will Wade from seeing the stand during the trial this month involving Christian Dawkins, above.
Feds argue against Miller testifying
Federal prosecutors have filed a motion that could keep Miller and LSU coach Will Wade from testifying in the April 22 federal college basketball bribery trial. Their motion, which was filed on Friday, argues that the attorney for aspiring agent Christian Dawkins "has represented that he intends to elicit from them the fact that the defendants did not bribe them.
"The defendants have represented that they similarly seek to offer wiretapped phone calls with both coaches but, again, never bribed them," it continues. βSuch evidence of potentially non-criminal dealings with other coaches is wholly irrelevant to any issue in dispute at trial and should be precluded.β
The motion argued that the defense should be precluded from making arguments or admitting evidence related to the breaking of NCAA rules. It quoted a Yahoo report in which Dawkinsβ attorney, Steve Haney, said he planned to βpull back the curtainβ on college basketball.
βThese statements, along with the defense counselβs proffer that they intend to elicit testimony from the subpoenaed coaches about their involvement in NCAA rule-breaking by paying student-athletes suggests that the defense may resort in this trial to arguments that pose a risk of attempting to garner the sympathy of the jury, and, therefore, would be categorically inappropriate,β the motion said.
Dawkins and Adidas rep Merl Code are facing charges they offered money to coaches at Arizona, Oklahoma State and USC in exchange for coaches directing players to them for professional representation.Β
Miller has repeatedly declined to comment about his reported subpoena for the upcoming trial.
Future Arizona Wildcat Josh Green (0) and his teammate celebrate winning the GEICO National Championship.
Green leads IMG to Geico title
UA signee Josh Green had 19 points to lead Floridaβs IMG Academy to a 66-55 winΒ over La Lumiere of Indiana in the finals of the Geico Nationals on Saturday. Over three games at the Geico event in New York, Green averaged 11 points on 44.8% shooting.
Green, along with Villanova-bound Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, led IMG to the best record in school history, 29-1.
UAβs other four 2019 commits also ended their high school careers with a state or other title: Guard Nico Mannion led Phoenix Pinnacle to the Arizona 6A title, center Christian Koloko helped Sierra Canyon to the California Open Division title, forward Zeke Nnaji led Minnetonka Hopkins to the Minnesota 4A championship and wing Terry Armstrong helped Scottsdale Bella VistaΒ win the Grind Session Championship.
