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Rick Pitino Admits To Paying For Mistress's Abortion


By

Billy Parker

Published Aug 12, 2009

Modified Aug 12, 2009


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By

Billy Parker

Published Aug 12, 2009

Modified Aug 12, 2009


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Former Knicks coach and current head coach of Big East powerhouse Louisville Rick Pitino is mired in an extortion scandal where it has come out that he had an affair inside a Kentucky restaurant and then paid for the woman to have an abortion. Karen Cunagin Sypher was indicted back in April of attempting to extort Pitino for $10 million. She had since responded to the charges with her own claims that the coach had raped her inside a restaurant and at a second location in 2003. Now the Louisville Courier-Journal obtained police interviews where Pitino admits to having sex with her at the restaurant after its employees had left; an assistant coach on-hand also told police that he heard "only the sounds of two people that seemed to be enjoying themselves during a sexual encounter." The Long Island native Pitino, a married father of five and Catholic who has a priest travel around with his team, then admitted to paying $3,000 for Sypher to have an abortion because she did not have health insurance, an anecdote unlikely to be brought up by the president in his current town hall meetings. Sypher pleaded not guilty to the extortion charges and prepares to go for trial. Sources say Pitino has no plans to take a leave of absence from Louisville.

Tagged

abortion

affair

big east

college basketball

extortion

health insurance

lousiville

rick pitino

sex scandal

sports


Billy Parker

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


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