Monday, July 7, 2025
 

honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, August 14, 2009

Report: Accuser says Pitino plotted against her


Associated Press

NEW YORK � The woman accused of trying to extort as much as $10 million from Rick Pitino over a sexual encounter says the Louisville coach orchestrated a plot to keep her silent, including a claim that her current husband was paid to marry her.

Karen Sypher, whose extortion charge is still pending, says in Friday�s edition of the New York Post that Pitino � a married father of five � engaged her at a Louisville restaurant in 2003, where the sexual encounter is said to have occurred. Pitino admitted to the tryst Wednesday and issued a public apology.
The Post reported that Sypher, whose last name at the time of the encounter was Cunagin, went on to claim that her subsequent marriage to Tim Sypher � Pitino�s equipment manager � was all part of an elaborate plot Pitino used to keep the incident private.
�The feds bugged my house and put surveillance everywhere with Tim�s help,� said Sypher, who is currently going through a divorce.
�I now think my husband was paid to marry me.�
Pitino�s job at Louisville appears safe after school president James Ramsey said Thursday it was time to move on and that the coach is �our guy.�
�This woman is incapable of telling the truth,� said Pitino�s lawyer, Steve Pence. �She is extremely deceitful, and in many ways disturbed.�