New Tell-All Book Alleges Louisville Paid for Escorts for Basketball Recruits – blogged by @LoveRubyWoo

Shocking new allegations have surfaced that could be extremely damaging to the reputation of University of Louisville’s basketball program. In a new tell-all book to be released any day now, a woman by the name of Katina Powell claims that she was hired by Andre McGee, the former director of basketball operations at Louisville, to bring strippers and prostitutes onto campus to sleep with and perform sex acts for recruits. While the main purpose of hiring her was to entice high school recruits to come play for Louisville, she says that the women also had sex with Louisville basketball players and even sometimes the recruits’ fathers as well. According to Powell, this happened multiple times between 2010 and 2014 and she, as well as three of her daughters, were among the many women who engaged in sex with players. In exchange, she was paid at least $10,000 over those four years.

The book, which is called “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen”, includes personal journal entries, text messages, and pictures as evidence to back up Powell’s story. In it, she also singles out the players who were involved. “I decided to write the book to tell my story and to let people know what goes on inside of college basketball … and how they get their new recruits,” Powell said. “It’s important for people to know … how young kids are persuaded to do certain things by sex, drugs and alcohol.”

The University of Louisville and the NCAA are now launching a full investigation into these accusations. Louisville basketball head coach Rick Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich claim that they had no idea this was going on. In a press conference on Friday afternoon, Pitino said that he spoke to a number of people within the basketball program and none of them had any knowledge of the alleged activities. He said he also spoke to Andre McGee, the man at the center of all the allegations, and he has denied his involvement. McGee, who is now an assistant coach at University of Missouri – Kansas City, has been put on paid administrative leave as UMKC performs an investigation on their side.

Source: Indianapolis Business Journal