Louisville escort and self-proclaimed madam Katina Powell is set to meet with the NCAA next week, where she’ll reportedly turn over documents, including copies of her personal journals and phone records, according to ESPN.com.
Powell’s decision to cooperate with NCAA investigators comes as she faces an expanding civil lawsuit targeting both her and the publisher of her tell-all book, “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen.” The book details nearly two dozen stripping and sex parties from 2010 to 2014 inside Louisville’s Billy Minardi Hall, the on-campus dorm for athletes and other students that is named for the late brother-in-law of Cardinals basketball coach Rick Pitino.
Powell has said that former Louisville basketball graduate assistant Andre McGee arranged the parties, paid her $10,000 for supplying dancers and paid for several sex-for-cash “side deals.” McGee has denied the allegations.
“In consideration of the fact that the Commonwealth is going forward and considering criminal charges against Ms. Powell, it is no longer in her best interest to forgo meeting with the NCAA and sharing all of the demonstrative evidence she has to support her position,” Wilder said.
On Monday, five women filed a civil suit against Powell, Indianapolis Business Journal Book Publishing and the book’s author, former Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Dick Cady.
The women claim that Powell, 42, used their photos and two of their first names without consent and defamed all of them by implying that they sold sex for money at the parties.
“The ladies who are plaintiffs in our case indicated they were never involved, never saw [sex]. There was no red-light room. They’re telling us there was no prostitution involved,” Shunnarah said.
In all, more than a dozen women or basketball players have confirmed that parties involving strippers and escorts occurred on the Louisville campus.
By Glenn Erby
