NEW YORK, Aug. 14, 2009
Woman Says She Feared Pitino's Wrath
Tells Newspaper College Basketball Coach Forced Her to Have Abortion, Paid Current Husband to Marry Her
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Karen Sypher, right, told a newspaper that Rick Pitino - a married father of five - engaged her at a Louisville restaurant in 2003, where the sexual encounter is said to have occurred. (AP Photo)
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Photo Essay Week In Sports The week's biggest winners, losers and newsmakers.
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.
Sypher told the Post that Pitino forced her to have an abortion and feared for her life if she did not follow his order.
"I'll never forget. I wanted to have the baby, but Rick said my children would all be in concrete. I lived in fear for five years," Sypher told the newspaper.
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."
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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- Porcini's waiter: the w h o r e du jour is hot today
Pitino: I'll take mine to go, down, up, sideways - Reply to this comment
- Porcini's Restaurant has a new special: *****-du-jour
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- Everything that woman says may be true. Men do threaten, etc to keep their dirty secrets quiet and yes, men will set a woman or anyone else up--but she destroys any credibility she might have had when she tries to extort money from him. If he was as scary as she says, then she would not dare try to extort would she? Knowing that his answer might be not to pay up but put her in concrete after all...The fact is, if she really wanted a chance to be believed, she should have been taping it all--from the abortion, to the threats to the sham marriage--because without it--we have just her statements and frankly neither she or the man are trustworthy.
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- Can't wait for the Lifetime movie
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- This tabloid story should left for the tabloids, not CBS News.
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- She should be put in jail... he'll be lucky to keep his family...
I'm glad to see sex still sells stories and books... - Reply to this comment
- This woman - a.k.a. Ms. Karen Sypher, if she's really afraid of Mr. Rick Pitino - then she wouldn't dare to extort him - correct?
But, if the law can prove indeed she is the one that extorted Mr. Rick Pitino whom she's afraid of - then she's nothing but a liar. To be fair, this basketball coach - a.k.a. Mr. Rick Pitino is no saint either - a man has a wife and 5 children yet committed adultery with a woman now who he alleges that extorted him for 10 million dollars - no matter what - the extra-marital affair is true. So shame on him! He should be fired for creating this scandal in the first place! - Reply to this comment
- And hey, let's not forget the Governor of South Carolina... What is wrong with people. You have children, you loose the right to be a callous pig. It would be awful enough to cheat on your spouse, but when you have children you are cheating on them too.
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- And just another louse who can't keep his zipper shut. I feel no sympathy for men who cheat and then get blackmailed.
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- Some women will do anything to establish a free lunch program. Stick with your wife, Rick. If you do that, you can't get "caught".
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- fame, money, sezx and finally murder. The American way!
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- Then again, Pitino is playing the part of Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate. Heck, he even looks like Pacino.
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- Well it should be obvious to everyone reading this story: Pitino is a Republican.
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- Typical psycho Ho...Pitino couldn't hold off getting his wick wet, and the odds caught up with him....He did a nut job and it came back to haunt him...If you think this is the only woman he had a "liason" with, you are very naive.
Rick obviously didn't see Fatal Attraction... - Reply to this comment
- Send her butt to jail for as long as the law allows. This is an extremely devious person willing to say and do anything to anyone to advance herself.
She acted like a cheap ***** - no reason to treat her like anything else now. - Reply to this comment
- Yet another American woman who cannot take resposibility for her own action and tries to discredit a man. Honestly, has anyone here EVER seen a woman take responsibility for any mistake they have made? Neither have I...
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- What you do in the dark will come to the light. This woman's story is believable. A man with a little bit of power has his assistant marry a woman he may have knocked up then she contacts him and says she thinks she may be pregnant, then he pays for an abortion. The King David and Bathsheba story comes to mind. She shouldn't have aborted the baby though. The husband was probably going to claim the child and raise it as his own with the full knowledge of who the real daddy was. The husband knew he had a guaranteed position with Pitino as long as he kept his secret. Now that the cat is out of the bag, the gigolo is going to run as fast as he can away from his wife and Pitino. I wouldn't be surprised if this story doesn't end up becoming a movie. Girlfriend might spend some time in prison but she's going to eventually get paid. When will men learn that not even hell has the fury of a woman scorned?
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- THIS IS BAD REPORTING, AS IT SAID IN AN EARLIER REPORT THE INVESTIGATERS, HAVE NOT FOUND ANY CONSISTANCIES IN THE WOMANS ALLEGATIONS, AND YET THE NEWS AGENCIES PUBLISH PHOTO'S TO BRAND AN IMAGE OF HELPLESS VICTIM, VIOLENT AND ANGRY MALE. OUR CULTURE IS SO SEXIST AND RACIST IT IS NOT FUNNY, WATCH MOST SHOWS ON TELEVISION AND ANSWER WHO ARE THE HERO'S.
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- "a married father of five - engaged her at a Louisville restaurant in 2003, where the sexual encounter is said to have occurred."
Where in the restroom, dining area, kitchen, storage room?
Please give us the name of that nasty restaurant so we will know not to eat there.
When a coach (or some other person involved with making money) murders someone in front of 1000 people and still keeps their job, I will not be surprised.
America has no moral character and it became totally obvious when Palin's pregnant unmarried teenage daughter stood up at the Republican ( the family values party ) convention to a rousing standing ovation and cheers for being a pregnant teenager and unmarried. - Reply to this comment
- Another nut job out to get money. So typical.
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