FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Sports

More Details Emerge About Louisville's Recruiting Sex Parties

Outside the Lines has more details about the sex and stripper parties organized for Louisville recruits.

Breaking Cardinal Rules includes pix of dancers/escorts with players at what author says is #UofL dorm. Here's one. pic.twitter.com/CB2FHk3Yan
— IBJ News (@IBJnews) October 2, 2015

Outside the Lines has spoken to five former Louisville players and recruits after news broke about parties with strippers and sex being held in campus dorms for Cardinals players and recruits. In her book Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen, former escort Katina Powell alleged that between 2010 and 2014 she staged "nearly two dozen" parties paid for by former graduate assistant coach Andre McGee. Powell claims she was paid $10,000 for the parties during that time and she also said McGee arranged for players to have sex, which she termed "side deals." The former players interviewed by OTL supported this account:

Advertisement

The former player who said he had sex with a dancer told Outside the Lines that McGee provided him with one-dollar bills to tip dancers and paid for one of the dancers to have sex with the player in a separate room. One of the other former players, who said he attended the parties as a recruit and player, said McGee "would give us the money, just the recruits. A bunch of us were sitting there while they danced. Then the players left, and the recruits chose which one [of the dancers] they wanted."

OTL confirmed that text messages setting up the parties were sent from McGee's phone, and also confirmed a wire transfer was sent from McGee to Powell. McGee, who left Louisville in 2014 for an assistant coach position at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, has been placed on leave while UMKC investigates the matter. Powell claimed that McGee said head coach Rick Pitino knew what was going on—"He's Rick. He knows about everything."—but Louisville and Pitino denied knowledge of the parties and have refused further comment until the university completes its own investigation.

After they held the first party, McGee brought up the possibility of sex with the recruits and players. Powell estimated that all but five or six of the approximately 24 women who worked the parties had sex with players, including her daughters Rod Ni and Lindsay Powell. Rod Ni says she was paid to have sex with former Louisville star Montrezl Harrell, now with Houston Rockets, and Lindsay Powell says she was paid $100 to have sex with Russ Smith, now with the Memphis Grizzlies. Harrell has denied any knowledge of the parties to OTL, and Smith did not respond.

OTL spoke to one dancer, Mandy, who estimated she was 17 when she attended one of the parties. She said that she didn't have sex with any recruits or players (the age of consent in Kentucky is 16) and did not know about any "side deals." Mandy said the purpose of the parties, according to Powell, was "basically to help people come to Louisville."

[ESPN]