Melissa L. Jampol, Member of the Firm in the Health Care & Life Sciences and Litigation practices, in the firm’s New York office, was quoted in Law360, in “Geragos ‘Chargeable’ in Avenatti Extortion Case, Experts Say,” by Jody Godoy. (Read the full version – subscription required.)

Following is an excerpt:

An extortion case against legal provocateur Michael Avenatti on Tuesday was even more shocking for implicating fellow celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos, suggesting that Geragos himself could still wind up facing charges.

Manhattan federal prosecutors charged Avenatti on Monday over an alleged scheme with another lawyer to extort more than $20 million from Nike to keep a lid on the company’s payments to student athletes. A source familiar with the investigation confirmed to Law360 on Tuesday that the second lawyer is Geragos, and that Geragos is not a cooperator in the case. …

Melissa Jampol, a former prosecutor who practices at Epstein Becker Green, pointed out that while prosecutors turned around a criminal case in a short amount of time, the complaint is based on excerpts from draft transcripts and may not give the entire story when it comes to Avenatti’s co-conspirator.

“We don’t know what he said or didn’t say on the recordings. They could be exculpatory in certain parts,” Jampol said.

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