UPDATE 1-U.S. lawyer Michael Avenatti arrested in Nike extortion scam -prosecutors

Attorney Michael Avenatti, who represented adult film star Stormy Daniels in her legal battles against U.S. President Donald Trump, was arrested on Monday and charged with extorting more than $20 million from Nike, federal prosecutors said.

The U.S. Attorneys offices in New York and Los Angeles separately filed charges against Avenatti, with the California case accusing him of embezzling a client's money to cover his own debts, as well as using phony tax returns to obtain millions of dollars in loans from a bank. Avenatti threatened to expose allegations of misconduct from Nike employees unless the apparel company paid him and an unnamed co-conspirator $22.5 million to "buy Avenatti's silence," the New York complaint said. (Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone)