Louisville's head basketball coach, Rick Pitino, alleges he and his family are currently the victims of an extortion scheme. FOX Sports reports Pitino has apparently been in contact with the FBI in an attempt to get the matter resolved for the past month. Unfortunately, with his being a highly paid public figure, Pitino faces much greater risks than the average extortion victim. It turns out, the extortion was being kept under wraps by Pitino and Louisville administration until, as Pitino says, his hand was forced.
"My family and I were recently threatened as part of a criminal scheme to extort money," Pitino said in a statement. "Upon receiving these threats, we reported this extortion attempt to the FBI. While I did not want to make this matter public, I recently learned that the individual behind this extortion attempt has already gone to the media with false, defamatory and outrageous allegations in an attempt to pressure me to cave in to this scheme.I honestly haven't seen anything come through any reputable outlet or blog where Pitino was slandered, but he's the one being threatened, so this appears to be an astute preemptive strike by the 56-year-old coach. It sounds like we could be hearing nefarious information about the coach in the next few weeks from anonymous "sources," and that we should take them with a gigantic grain of salt.
"I want to make it clear that I intend to vigorously defend my reputation and the character of my family against any criminal scheme to extort money. I am hopeful that the media and public will recognize the slanderous nature of this direct and malicious attack."
