Latest Developments in the Rick Pitino, Karen Sypher FBI Probe

There hasn’t been much more to report on since the story first broke that Louisville coach Rick Pitino had reported an extortion attempt to the FBI back in March.  There were little to no details in the original statements, and Louisvillians and Kentuckians across the state were left to assume and make their best guesses as to what the extortion attempt entailed.

We still haven’t heard from Steve Pence, former KY Lieutenant Governor and Pitino’s attorney.  However, the woman behind the investigation, Karen Sypher’s attorney Thomas Clay, recently spoke with former Courier-Journal columnist, ESPN.com’s Pat Forde.

In the interview, which took place late Monday evening, Clay stated that from his understanding the FBI had just about wrapped up its investigation into his client and that he anticipated “if the decision hasn’t already been made, it’ll be made soon. I wouldn’t be surprised to see something as soon as today or [Tuesday].”

Well, it is nearing 8pm on Tuesday and still no word. Karen Sypher had this to say regarding the pending investigation and rumors swirling around this Rivertown: “I’m standing up for my rights and feeling like I don’t have a lot of them at this moment,” she said Monday. “I’m just waiting for the truth to come out.”

Is this the gesture Pitino made to Sypher that led her to snap?

I don’t really understand at all what Karen Sypher is talking about. It is obvious from several points of view that she is the one being investigated for wrong-doing and there will be no counter claims or civil claims raised against Pitino (per her own attorney).

Karen Sypher recently did a two hour plus interview with Louisville’s Fox affiliate, WDRB-41 anchor Candace Clift, but the station reported Saturday night that it had “decided not to relate details of her claims” at that time.

Clifft said the station chose not to air it because “we couldn’t substantiate the claims she was making.”

Clifft went on to say that the claims against Pitino were “of a personal nature, not related to his recruiting or coaching. That’s all I’m at liberty to say.”

However, she added that Sypher approached WDRB with the information, and that after the interview took place, the station had an independent polygraph expert administer a lie-detector test to Sypher — a test she agreed to do before the interview.

Polygraph tests can have three possible results: pass, fail or inconclusive. SURPRISE! Sypher’s test fell into the inconclusive range. This heightened the station’s concerns about the integrity of her information.

The inconclusive polygraph, coupled with the fact that there were no criminal complaints filed or charges levied against Pitino, the station decided not to air the interview.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever air all or any of the interview,” Clifft said. “Right now there are no plans to do that.”

Wow. Well, again i’m only assuming, and we all know what assuming does to both ‘u’ and ‘me’, but logic can lead us down several paths here. Let’s try and follow a couple of those paths.

PATH A
1) Sypher and her husband, Louisville equipment manager Tim Sypher who has been with Pitino since his Boston days, are in the process of finalizing a divorce.

2) Pitino reported to the FBI, that in late March he began receiving threatening phone calls, beginning in late February and continuing throughout the BIG EAST and NCAA Tournaments.

3) Sypher approached the media with personal attacks against Pitino.

4) Karen Sypher’s own attorney is basically stating that his client is being investigated, and may be charged with criminal activity and they have no plans to make any type of counter claim against Pitino.

So, here are my assumptions, and like Lloyd Christmas and Samsonite, I could be waaaay off:
a) Pitino and Sypher, at some point, maybe just once, maybe on-again-off-again, maybe for the last 10+ years, but at some point(s) hooked up.
b) Now that the Sypher’s are in the process of getting a divorce, Karen Sypher, looking to maintain her lifestyle, tried to get some money out of Pitino to not mention his name as one of the reasons for the separation.
c) Pitino said no.
d) Sypher continued to threaten and harass him in an attempt to make a lil’ hush money.
e) Slick Rick went to the FBI.
f) Sypher went to the media in an attempt to get Pitino’s name out there, but her claims were in no way substaniated.

This leaves us basically nowhere until more is reported. Like i said in my original post, I don’t care if Pitino and Sypher were doin’ the horizontal mambo every night for the last 10 years… their business. However, if Sypher tried to use that as leverage to get some money out of Pitino, that’s a crime, that should be punished. She’s a grown woman, she made the decision to cheat on her husband and sleep with him (if that is what happened).

PATH B
Now the one kink in the above path is based on one key word here, “extortion”. The definition of extortion is as follows: ‘Extortion, outwresting, or exaction is a criminal offense which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime groups. The actual obtainment of money or property is not required to commit the offense. Making a threat of violence or a lawsuit which refers to a requirement of a payment of money or property to halt future violence or lawsuit is sufficient to commit the offense.’

By this definition, there should be nothing sexual involved in the case. If there was any evidence of sexual transgressions, and Sypher was demanding money to not make those transgressions public, that would be termed “blackmail”. Extortion is a whole different beastie. It usually means that Party A (Pitino) pays money to party B (Karen Sypher) in exchange for Party B or B’s henchmen (Tim Sypher?) not causing any physical harm to party A or A’s family.

So taking a more litigious route to an assumption, Sypher called Pitino and told him if he didn’t pay up she was going to have her estranged husband break his kneecaps.

This would make more sense as to why Tim Sypher came out and said that he was “devastated by the bizarre allegations that my estranged wife is making against both Coach Pitino and myself.”

But then that leaves no room for explanation of the ‘personal attacks’ levied against Pitino in Sypher’s WDRB interview. Whew, so its all speculation and its all assumptions at this point, keep checkin’ back to the Pinkie and we’ll bring you the latest news when it does break.

****UPDATE*****

CHECK OUT KAREN SYPHER’S INTERVIEW WITH PAT FORDE ON 4/23 HERE!!!