It really isn’t looking good for the University of Louisville Cardinals’ basketball team after former escort Katina Powell aired out their dirtiest laundry in her new book “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen.” Powell, 42, claims that from 2010-2014 Cardinals’ coaches used her and her girls to recruit players with illicit stripper dorm parties, where they paid dancers to have sex with the recruits.

In the book, which was compiled out of four years worth of Powell’s personal journal entries, she claims that she did “everything to make those guys sign,” and even felt like she was part of the recruitment team.

Continuing coverage today of our exclusive local interview with Katina Powell @WHAS11 @WHAS11Tabnie pic.twitter.com/73IdSIqNfu

— Renee Murphy (@WHAS11Renee) October 20, 2015

Shortly after the book’s release ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” launched its own investigation into the “sex party” claims and uncovered evidence that seemingly supports Powell’s assertions.

Watch the ESPN interview below  

The interview was chock full of juicy, salacious material, but here are the five most important facts you need to know.

1. Andre McGee allegedly orchestrated the parties

Former Director of Basketball Operations and graduate Assistant Coach Andre McGee was the alleged “point person” for all of the dorm stripper parties that took place in U of L’s Billy Minardi Hall. Powell claims that McGee asked her if some of the dancers would have sex for money. In her interview with ESPN’s Powell said,

He asked me, ‘Is there any girls that want to make extra money,’ pretty much a side deal with the players. … So I asked the girls and their eyes lit up like, ‘Well, yeah.

[…]

I just knew ‘Side deals’ were sex, and if they [the dancers] wanted to make extra money, that’s what the ‘side deal’ was, sex.

2. Players who supposedly had sex with dancers are being named

Powell outed former Louisville recruits JaQuan Lyle, Antonio Blakeney, Jordan Mickey, and Terry Rozier as all having had sex with dancers during their recruiting visits. She also claims that two former Cardinals players who made it to the NBA were also involved. She named Memphis Grizzlies point guard Russ Smith and Houston Rockets power forward Montrezl Harrell as having had sex with her daughters Lindsay Powell, 24, and Rod Ni Powell, 22, respectively.

3. Katina pimped out her own daughters

Opps, did I forget to mention that she pimped out her own daughters?

Her three daughters were paid to strip and have sex during these parties. But she made a point to mention that they were all at least 18 when they were first paid for sex. Great job mom.

4. Recruits are backing up her story

ESPN found five former Louisville basketball players or recruits who asked to remain anonymous, who are corroborating her story. One recruit who eventually signed to play elsewhere said, “I knew they weren’t college girls. It was crazy. It was like I was in a strip club.”

5. Coach Rick Pitino claims this is news to him

Many are wondering whether or not Cardinals Head Coach Rick Pitino knew anything about these parties. Powell, however, is pretty sure that he did, saying, “I said, ‘Does Pitino know about this?’ And he said, ‘He’s Rick. He knows about everything.'” As of now Pitino has no plans to step down, and is directing all blame on McGee, but the blowback from this scandal could easily make him the next casualty.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Ex-Escort Claims Louisville Coaches Paid for Recruits’ Strippers & Escorts appeared first on Law Street.

Police in West Virginia received a frantic call last week with a woman in the background saying, “He pulled a gun on me! He was going to kill me!” The woman, who wants to be known only as “Heather,” spoke to the police after a struggle with an attacker who tried to rape her and held a gun to her chest. Luckily Heather was able to fight back to the point where the gunman set down his weapon. She then grabbed ahold of it and fired the gun, killing him. Heather ran out of the house and found a neighbor who called 911 for her. The neighbor said she “had to defend herself,” and she had “cuts and stuff all over her.” Heather made it out of the fight with just a broken vertebra and a separated shoulder. Now, police believe she may have killed an unknown serial killer, and saved countless lives in the process.

Heather’s story was understandably traumatic. In her own words, she stated the gunman asked her: “live or die?” and started to choke her. “When he strangled me, I grabbed my rake, and when he laid the gun down to get the rake out of my hands, I shot him,” she said. “I grabbed the gun and shot behind me.” Police identified the man as 45-year-old Neal Falls. Inside Falls’ car detectives found a machete, axes, knives, a shovel, a sledgehammer, bleach, plastic trash bags, bulletproof vests, and four sets of handcuffs. Heather met Falls through an escort section of backpage.com and after authorities saw what they called Falls’ “kill kit” and Oregon license plate, this led them to wonder if he could be connected to other unsolved cases involving the murder of escorts. Police are now investigating if he was linked with the disappearance of nine women across Ohio, Illinois, and Nevada. In 2005 Falls lived in Las Vegas, the same year four women went missing and were later found dead. Outside of Las Vegas, evidence found with the dismembered bodies was similar to an item found in Fall’s car.

Man slain in West Virginia may have been a serial killer, police say: http://t.co/DrvtvJbnRj pic.twitter.com/L1T2jF2Nb1

— NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) July 27, 2015

Police find ‘kill kit’ in trunk of Neal Falls’ car, suspected serial killer. More: http://t.co/NeqlPrjbH4 pic.twitter.com/fFGOGXtXZk

— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) July 28, 2015

All the missing women were escorts, most of whom advertised online. Police said Falls also carried a list with the age and phone numbers of about 10 women who were also escorts in West Virginia. The listed women are all alive and have not had any previous contact with Falls, according to Charleston Police Department Chief of Detectives Steve Cooper.

However, given the damning evidence, police do not believe this was Falls’ first violent crime. “It’s likely that Mr. Falls is a serial killer,” said Cooper. “I believe she saved lives by shooting Mr. Falls, based on what he did to her and based on the items found in his car.” Heather stated, “I knew he was there to kill me…I could tell he had already done something because he said he was going to prison for a long time.” Fall’s former landlord, who wants to be identified as “Pauline,” stated that he stayed at her house in 2010, but she evicted him after only one year because his strange behavior made her feel uncomfortable. Pauline told KVAL:

The first thing that he did that was a little odd was that he immediately changed the deadbolt to his own room so that only he had a key. He said he had guns and weapons and that he was a security guard….Little creepy, very tightly lipped and not a chummy guy, definitely not a chummy guy. Somebody who doesn’t like to be exposed.

Heather’s case has been closed and she is not being charged for killing Falls because it was considered an act of self-defense. Authorities are now focused on finding out if Falls was related to other crimes in the past. Police in West Virginia have asked the FBI for help, and are entering Falls’ name into a national DNA database to see if they can find any kind of connection. If Heather did in fact kill a serial killer, it may help solve a number of cold cases, and prevent Falls’ future crimes.

Taelor Bentley

Taelor is a member of the Hampton University Class of 2017 and was a Law Street Media Fellow for the Summer of 2015. Contact Taelor at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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