Vaunted University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino has reportedly told cops he had sex with — and then financed an abortion for — a woman charged with trying to shake him down for millions.
Karen Cunagin Sypher was charged by the feds in April with making an escalating list of demands of Pitino — college tuition for her kids, two cars, money to pay off her house, $3,000 monthly and, finally, $10 million.
The 49-year-old leggy blonde’s husband, Louisville equipment manager Tim Sypher, allegedly delivered the list to Pitino. He wasn’t charged.
According to The Courier-Journal of Louisville, cops last month interviewed the Catholic, married Pitino, 56, about the steamy 2003 sex-in-a-restaurant encounter, and the coach admitted he gave Karen $3,000 to get an abortion.
Pitino’s account, according to police records, was that Karen agreed to have sex with him at the restaurant where he’d been drinking on Aug. 1, 2003.
But he denied her more recent allegations that he’d raped her there — and later at the condo where Tim Sypher lived.
Pitino, who coached the Knicks from 1987-89, told cops Karen called him about two weeks after the one-night stand and said she was pregnant. They arranged to meet at Sypher’s place; she didn’t know Sypher at the time, but married him six months later. They are now getting divorced.
According to the police report, Pitino said Karen had decided to get an abortion but claimed not to have health insurance.
Pitino then gave her the dough, the paper said.
Karen came up with the rape allegations on July 9 — some two months after she was indicted for extortion and lying to the FBI.
But cops found her claims fishy, according to the newspaper account — she never mentioned that an executive assistant to Pitino, Vinnie Tatum, was also at the restaurant.
The police report said Tatum claimed he didn’t see the restaurant romp, only that he heard “the sounds of two people that seemed to be enjoying themselves during a sexual encounter.”
Louisville authorities declined to press rape charges against Pitino — the only men’s coach in NCAA history to lead three different schools — Providence, Kentucky and Louisville — to the Final Four.
University President James Ramsey said he found the latest revelations “surprising.”
“Several months ago Coach Pitino informed me about the alleged extortion attempt,” he added.
Neither Karen Sypher nor her lawyer returned calls for comment. Pitino’s lawyer, Steve Pence, said the story was about Karen — not Pitino.
“Karen Sypher is indicted for extortion,” he said, adding authorities have said “she is void of any credibility on these 6-year-old allegations she has made.” With AP