Did Nike Bribe Zion Williamson? Shoe Brand ‘Will Not Respond,’ Says Spokesperson

Top shoe brand Nike has refused to react to the allegations made by celebrity attorney Michael Avenatti that it bribed high school athletes including Zion Williamson for joining “Nike” colleges via family members.

One specific allegation was illicit payments made to the mother of basketball phenomenon Zion Williamson who had played for Nike-sponsored Duke.

According to Avenatti, Nike paid Williamson’s mother, Sharonda Sampson during his recruitment when he was a student in a South Carolina high school.

Avenatti dared Nike to deny the allegation and said the money was paid to Williamson’s mother in the guise of “consulting services.”

Williamson is expected to be the top star to boost NBA scores this year.

Lawyer Avenatti hogged the limelight in 2018 when he represented porn star Stormy Daniels against President Donald Trump and his lawyer Michael Cohen in a lawsuit.

The celebrity-lawyer was arrested in March for federal charges of “trying to extort millions of dollars from Nike by threatening to take his allegations public.”

A barrage of allegations against Nike

On Saturday, Avenatti took to Twitter and released 41-pages of documents as “evidence showing Nike bribed players to attend ‘Nike’ colleges.”

Avenatti said all the new evidence has been passed on to law enforcement.

“Still waiting for Nike to deny they paid bribes and lied to the government for years about it. They know they did it and are guilty as hell,” Avenatti added.

Avenatti’s Nike documents also showed the brand’s alleged payments to some associates linked with amateur basketball players including former Oregon star Bol Bol, Deandre Ayton and Brandon McCoy.

Did Nike route payments via Franklin?

The documents are flush with details of bank records and text messages involving basketball coach Gary Franklin who is shown as a conduit of payment.

Franklin worked for Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League and was the trainer for California Supreme Basketball which had Bol, Ayton, and McCoy as alumni.

Avenatti alleged that Nike paid Franklin thousands of dollars in 2017 that he channeled to Bol’s “handler” Melvin McDonald.

Nike paid Franklin’s California Supreme $36,000 on April 10, 2017. A day later, Franklin wired $29,528.34 to American All-Star Basketball that had McDonald as a director.

Bol was a top-ranked high school player in America at that time and is the son of former NBA player Manute Bol.

Dragging Nike’s name to college basketball scandal?

It is significant that Avenatti’s is targeting Nike which was so far immune from allegations relating to the college basketball scandal that was probed by federal investigators.

After the probe, many former Adidas personnel who steered payments to top high-school players faced convictions along with college coaches who took bribes.

Avenatti tweeted that what Nike did was the same as Adidas barring the difference that Nike “purposely hid the payments from the NCAA & Fed investigators.”