The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned aside anti-Trump lawyer Michael Avenatti’s appeal of a felony fraud conviction stemming from his attempt to extort tens of millions of dollars from Nike, the sports apparel company.

The justices rejected the appeal without comment.

Avenatti had argued both that the law he was convicted of violating was too vague and that his attempted extortion of Nike was normal “litigation conduct” for a lawyer and should not be subject to criminal penalties.

Avenatti, 53, was a high-profile lawyer and darling of left-leaning news networks such as CNN and MSNBC. He at one point flirted with running in the Democratic presidential primary in 2020. He even registered support in some polls, with party voters appreciating his combative approach to then-President Donald Trump.

Avenatti’s most famous client was Stormy Daniels, whose claims of an affair with Mr. Trump and subsequent hush payments by Mr. Trump, led directly to the former president’s current criminal trial in New York.

But Avenatti’s world came crashing down as federal investigators accused him of a lengthy list of frauds, including tax evasion, bilking clients and the extortion attempt.

In that case, while representing a youth basketball program director, Avenatti approached the company and claimed he had evidence it was illegally paying amateur players. He demanded up to $25 million to stop going public — in part by hiring Avenatti himself to conduct an “internal” investigation.

At the time he was drowning in debts and playing financial games with other clients and business interests, according to prosecutors.

Avenatti was convicted at trial and was sentenced to two years in prison for that case.

In their argument to the justices, Avenatti’s lawyers said attorneys need to be free to make bargaining demands as part of civil cases.

“The courts of appeals are divided on the question, but as the majority have reasoned, litigation is a socially preferred form of dispute resolution, and exposing litigants to criminal sanctions disserves that policy,” Avenatti’s team argued.

The Justice Department said Avenatti’s suggestion that he personally be hired by Nike to make the allegations go away means the disgraced lawyer was not acting on behalf of his client’s litigation interests.

Avenatti has also been convicted and sentenced for bilking clients and obstructing the IRS. His total sentence across three cases is 19 years in prison.

He began serving his time in late 2022. 

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.