Posted on 08/05/2010 1:09:35 PM PDT by Bad~Rodeo
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)—A Kentucky woman was convicted of extortion Thursday after she demanded millions of dollars from Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino to keep their tryst at a restaurant secret.
Karen Cunagin Sypher, 50, of Louisville, was found guilty of three counts of extortion, two counts of lying to the FBI and one count of retaliating against a witness. As the jury’s verdict was read, Sypher closed her eyes, then opened them and stared at the ceiling. One of her sons sitting in the front row with other family members wept openly.
The case involved a 2003 sexual encounter between Pitino and Sypher at a table inside an Italian restaurant closed for the night. Pitino testified she came on to him and the sex was consensual. After she was charged, Sypher told police it was rape but Pitino was never charged.
Last year, Pitino received threatening phone calls and two letters demanding cash and gifts for Sypher to keep the tryst secret.
Sypher faces a maximum sentence of 26 years in prison, but under federal sentencing guidelines, the penalty will likely be lighter. She will be sentenced Oct. 27.
The jury deliberated for slightly more than five hours over two days. The trial lasted eight days.
“This was nothing more than a pure shakedown of Richard Pitino,” Assistant U.S. attorney Marisa Ford told jurors in closing arguments Wednesday.
Defense attorney James Earhart told jurors Sypher had been “villainized” during the trial. He argued that the government’s case proved that “rules don’t apply to the privileged” like Pitino.
The star witness was Pitino.
Prosecution and defense attorneys questioned him in detail about the night he met Sypher, then known as Karen Wise. The married father of five t
(Excerpt) Read more at rivals.yahoo.com ...
15 seconds of fame!
I don't think I would have admitted that, you know, male ego thing and all, ahem
I say “Not guilty”
Play silly games, win silly prizes.
She can pole dance in prison for tips.
Hit it?
Yes, I would,
So that’s the little minx that almost got away with it. No wonder Mr Hang Time, couldn’t...LOL~
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