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Trial Takeaways:

• Civil jury finds that Geragos aided and abetted Avenatti in Nike extortion plot
• Geragos found to have breached legal duties—risking possible State Bar discipline
• Despite a $100,000 verdict, Geragos’ future as a California attorney now hangs in the balance

By Samuel Lopez – USA Herald

LOS ANGELES, CA - The legal world was shaken this week when famed Los Angeles defense attorney Mark Geragos, renowned for defending headline-grabbing clients like the Menendez brothers and his role as an advisor to the Sean “Diddy” Combs legal team, was hit with a jury verdict finding that he breached his duties as a lawyer in the now-infamous Nike extortion scheme. While the monetary damages were modest—$100,000 awarded to youth basketball coach Gary Franklin—the real weight of the verdict may rest on Geragos’ continued ability to practice law in California.

Mark Geragos, a fixture of celebrity legal defense, found himself on the wrong side of the courtroom after being accused, alongside disbarred attorney Michael Avenatti, of orchestrating a scheme to extract millions from sports apparel giant Nike.

The two attorneys allegedly demanded that, beyond settling with Franklin, the apparel company also needed to agree to pay them over $20 million to conduct a confidential internal investigation—or else Avenatti would go public with purported misconduct in youth basketball that he had learned from Franklin, according to the lawsuit filed by Franklin.

The underlying case? Franklin, a longtime coach of the respected Los Angeles-based youth basketball program California Supreme, had received $72,000 annually in sponsorship support from Nike. But when Nike ended its sponsorship deal in 2019, Franklin sought help from Michael Avenatti—who at the time was riding a wave of national fame for representing Stormy Daniels in legal battles against Donald Trump.

Franklin contended that Avenatti and Geragos torpedoed a $1.5 million settlement opportunity by seeking massive personal paydays and leveraging Franklin’s allegations of misconduct in college basketball recruiting.

The extortion plot quickly made national headlines. Avenatti—already a controversial figure—was arrested, convicted and sentenced to 2 1/2-years in prison. Geragos, meanwhile, avoided criminal indictment, but his role as an alleged co-conspirator drew sharp scrutiny from both legal peers and the public.

Geragos’ Spiraling Downfall and The Jury’s Findings

In a packed Los Angeles courtroom, after days of high-stakes testimony, including from Geragos himself, jurors issued their verdict. While Geragos was not Franklin’s official attorney of record during the relevant periods alleged in the complaint (that role belonged to Avenatti), the jury nonetheless found Geragos: