Legendary basketball coach Rick Pitino will be the star witness in the trial of the woman accused of trying to blackmail him. INSIDE EDITION has the story.
He's legendary University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino, former coach of the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks.
Now he's about to become the star witness in the sensational blackmail trial of a former model.
Karen Sypher kissed a cross she was wearing as she walked into court on the second day of the trial.
Prosecutors say Sypher tried to extort $10 million from Pitino over a sexual encounter in a Louisville restaurant.
He says the encounter was consensual. She now says she was raped.
As the trial opened the prosecutor told the jury: "At the end of this trial I submit to you you will not believe anything she has said. What this case ultimately leaves you with is lies."
She has pled not guilty.
"I'm the victim? And I'm told that I may be going to prison?" an indignant Sypher told INSIDE EDITION's Les Trent.
She talked to INSIDE EDITION in 2009 about the charges against her, and claimed she was being persecuted for threatening to damage Pitino's career.
"It's absolutely ruining my life and my children's lives and it's so unfair," Sypher said.
