Nike says it will not respond to the latest allegations of lawyer Michael Avenatti

Nike sportswear giant said on Saturday that it would not react to the allegations of lawyer Michael Avenatti that some company employees allegedly made improper payments to the families of the athletes High School.

Avenatti was arrested and charged last month for trying to extort more than $ 20 million from Nike by threatening to make his allegations public. He said that he represented a high school coach who knew the details of the alleged payments.

Nike said Saturday during the NCAA playoffs in the men's basketball final that it would "not respond to allegations of an individual accused of fraud and extortion by the federal government and would help in his outrageous attempts to distract athletes from the field at the peak of the tournament. " "

"Nike will continue its cooperation with the government's investigation into basic basketball and the extortion-related case," the bureau added.

Avenatti, who gained national fame as a lawyer for adult video director Stormy Daniels, flirted with the presidential candidacy ahead of a domestic violence arrest in November, a multi-million dollar civil judgment against him in October and a split with Daniels last month.

Daniels, who sued President Donald Trump about a confidentiality agreement, which prohibited him from talking about an alleged sexual affair with the president in 2006, said in March that she had a new legal representative.