Duke University Reviewing Michael Avenatti Claim that Nike Bribed Zion Williamson’s Mother

Duke University has announced that it is looking into claims by troubled attorney Michael Avenatti that sportswear giant Nike bribed Zion Williamson’s mother, to get her son to apply to the university.

The California attorney who was recently arrested and charged with trying to extort Nike, recently tweeted out an accusation that Williamson’s mother, Sharonda Sampson, took bribes, TMZ reported.

In a public statement, Duke said they were “looking into it” and added, “Duke is fully committed to compliance with all NCAA rules and regulations.”

Avenatti detailed his accusations in a series of tweets.

“@DukeMBB – About this denial by Coach K the other day relating to payments by Nike…Can you please ask Zion Williamson’s mother – Sharonda Sampson – whether she was paid by @nike for bogus “consulting services” in 2016/17 as part of a Nike bribe to get Zion to go to Duke? Thx,” Avenatti tweeted on Friday.

The former porn lawyer added a second tweet to elaborate on his charge saying, “Here is a link to only SOME of the evidence showing Nike bribed players to attend ‘Nike’ colleges. This evidence is now in the hands of law enforcement. Nike bribed over 100 players as part of their scheme and purposely hid the payments from the NCAA & fed investigator.”

In a third, he wrote, “Nike should be criminally indicted on well over 200 counts and should also explain why they misled their investors/the SEC. If I’m lying or the docs are not legit, I challenge @nike to issue a stmt claiming no bribes were ever paid. Just Do It Nike!”

Avenatti was arrested in March and charged with trying to extort $20 million from Nike on threat that he would release some damaging information about the company. But on CBS This Morning he denied the charges.

“Any suggestion is absolutely absurd,” Avenatti claimed. “Nike knew, from the very first moment that I had any contact with Nike, that I was insisting that the truth about what Nike had done be disclosed to federal prosecutors and investigators.”

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.