A Louisville woman was indicted today on federal charges of extortion of Louisville coach Rick Pitino. Karen Cunagin Sypher, 49, is the estranged wife of Tim Sypher, a member of Pitino’s staff and a longtime friend. She issued a list of demands to Pitino through her husband, according to the Associated Press.
The complaint said Tim Sypher brought Pitino a written list of demands from his wife, including college tuition for her children, two cars, her house paid off and $3,000 per month. The demands later escalated to $10 million instead.
Authorities have not said what sort of information Karen Sypher might have been trying to use to extort Pitino. They have said the coach believed it was related to an unspecified 2003 encounter with her.
Pitino went public with the story when he found out that Cunagin Sypher had told her side of the story to a local TV station, which did not broadcast the interview because it could not verify the facts of her story.
