Even by the standards of a man who has been at the center of media firestorms involving Michael Jackson and Colin Kaepernick, it had been a whirlwind 24 hours.
On Monday afternoon, Mark Geragos’ name surfaced in connection with a sprawling federal criminal complaint that accused another camera-friendly litigator, Michael Avenatti, of trying to extort millions from athletic-wear giant Nike. As media report after media report described Geragos as an “un-indicted co-conspirator,” CNN quickly moved to fire him as a legal pundit. Meanwhile, the typically loquacious lawyer remained silent.
By Tuesday, Geragos was in the headlines again, this time celebrating a surprise legal victory when prosecutors in Chicago decided to drop charges against one of his suddenly infamous clients — actor Jussie Smollett, who had been accused of manufacturing a hate crime that has captured national attention.
“The nature of what I do,” Geragos, 61, said plainly Tuesday, as if being implicated in an extortion scheme and finding himself at the heart of a roiling debate on race-based violence was a normal start to a week.
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