Rick Pitino (AP)
That’s one quickie she’ll have years to think about.
Crackpot sexpot Karen Cunagin Sypher was found guilty yesterday of demanding $10 million from former Knick coach Rick Pitino in return for keeping mum about their “15-second” affair — and now faces up to 26 years in prison.
A jury found Sypher guilty on all six counts — including extortion and lying to investigators.
Sypher, who was wearing a light blue shirt, black jacket and ruffled skirt, closed her eyes as she heard the word “guilty” repeated over and over again.
Pitino — the University of Louisville head basketball coach for whom the 2003 tryst, a false rape accusation and embarrassing trial marked a career low point — was not in the courtroom yesterday.
In cringe-worthy testimony last week, Pitino told jurors their illicit fling in a Louisville Italian restaurant lasted just “15 seconds.”
Yesterday, Pitino’s attorney, former Kentucky Lt. Gov. Steve Pence, said, “The jury did the right thing.”
The jury, which deliberated for five hours starting Wednesday afternoon, did not have much trouble reaching a decision, foreman Glen Elder said. There were no sticking points, he said.
As prosecutors left the courtroom, Jacob Wise, Sypher’s 20-year-old son, said sarcastically, “Thanks for taking my mother away, guys,” and clapped his hands.
Sypher, who is free until her October sentencing, left with her lawyer and son without making a comment. She’s expected to get closer to seven years in prison.
Defense lawyer James Earhart argued that the government’s case proved that “rules don’t apply to the privileged” like Pitino, who was the star witness.
Sypher did not testify.
Louisville Athletic Director Tom Jurich said the trial had been rough on Pitino.
“She was on a mission to get him,” he said. “It’s been very taxing because he loves his family. He knows he let them down that night.”
The trial brings to an end a long, embarrassing episode for the Louisville coach, which began when the two met in 2003 at Porcini, an Italian restaurant owned by a friend.
On the stand, Pitino told the jury he was at the end of the bar when she approached him with her cellphone, asking him to wish her son a happy birthday.
He obliged. Then, she started flirting with him and rubbing his leg, he testified last week.
At the end of the night, she suggested they move to a booth to finish their wine.
“Some unfortunate things happened,” he said. “She opened up my pants.”
Their encounter lasted only “15 seconds,” Pitino said.
“She said to me that she is extremely fertile. She said her husband had looked at her four times and that she got pregnant,” he said.
Hearing this, Pitino said, he “immediately pulled out.”
Under an awkward cross-examination, he was asked how Sypher could have become pregnant if he did not ejaculate.
“I did,” he said. “Down my leg.”
Sypher, who says she became pregnant and had an abortion, waited six years to threaten to reveal the details of the brief, messy time together if he did not pay up.
He received three threatening phone calls and two letters demanding cash, cars and tuition for her children to keep quiet.
Worried that his wife and kids would find out he had a one-night stand with a woman he met in a bar, Pitino acknowledged that he didn’t immediately tell police.
He kept quiet for nearly two months, but ultimately, rather than pay Sypher, Pitino contacted the FBI.