U of L basketball point-shaving claim in extortion email is false, KY AG says

[Spotcheck Billy]

AG's presser video at the link
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20131024/NEWS01/310240072/U-L-basketball-point-shaving-claim-extortion-email-false-Kentucky-AG-says?nclick_check=1


A Jackson, Miss., man with a history of email extortion attempts was arrested Thursday on charges of trying to blackmail the University of Louisville Athletic Association out of $3.5 million in exchange for keeping quiet about a basketball point-shaving scandal.

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway said investigators do not believe any such point-shaving scheme existed.
Thomas E. Ray, 35, was arrested Thursday morning in Mississippi by U.S. marshals, according to a statement from David Hale, U.S. attorney in Louisville.
According to the indictment, Ray, using the alias "Melinda White," sent an email from his home on April 23 threatening U of L athletics' reputation unless he was paid $3.5 million. Conway said authorities traced the email to Ray's Yahoo account and Internet protocol address.
"This email was one notch above a Nigerian cousin," Conway said in reference to a common Internet scam.
Ray was convicted in 2005 of two counts of extortion and sentenced to 18 months in prison in a similar case involving Best Buy. In that case, prosecutors said he tried to extort $2.5 million from the consumer electronics chain by threatening to expose purported flaws in the company's computer system.
Federal prosecutors said Ray used the name "Jamie Weathersby" to contact Best Buy in October 2003.
In a prepared statement, U of L athletic director Tom Jurich said he contacted Conway and the NCAA within minutes of reading the email in April.
"We were confident that there was no truth to the accusations made in the communication," Jurich said.
Conway said Ray claimed to be able to ensure the silence of a person in custody with knowledge of a point-shaving scheme. Investigators never found the person Ray referred to, Conway said. No U of L basketball players were named in the email, he said.
Ray could be sent to prison for up to two years and fined up to $250,000. He posted a $10,000 bond Thursday and was ordered to appear in Louisville District Court at 11 a.m. Nov. 7.