Mickey Maurer Pays Prostitute For Tell-All Smut Book About University Of Louisville's Basketball Program

Katina Powell

Katina Powell, an African-American woman who earned a living in an escort business with her daughters, is being paid a small sum by IBJ Publishing to write a tell-all book, "Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball And The Escort Queen," in which she claims Rick Pitino's college basketball program at the University of Louisville paid her to provide sexual services to the school's basketball recruits and, in some cases, their fathers.

IBJ Publisher owner, Mickey Maurer, who claims Powell found his publishing firm by happenstance, hired Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dick Cady to write Powell's story in a book deal from which he will pocket 90% of the revenues and Powell will receive a paltry 10% to destroy the career of Andre McGee, Louisville's former director of operations, if not the career of Rick Pitino and others associated with the school's basketball program. A promo for the book describe's Powell's smutty life:

"I looked in those young faces, and their eyes reflected their fear and loss of innocence.  (We've) done so many recruits, it is sickening," Powell laments. Escorting, dancing and sex was Powell's occupation.  She ran the business with a troupe of strippers, including her own daughters.

Powell kept five journals with details of her escort escapades, sexual encounters, murdered relatives and activities at the University of Louisville.  Most of the U of L services she provided took place in the men's dormitory where basketball players reside.  Her main contact and the man who paid for her services–the school's former director of basketball operations and former graduate assistant, Andre McGee–kept Powell and her girls busy from 2010 to 2014. She has hundreds of text exchanges with him to set up her services as well as pictures of her girls with players and recruits.

Powell does not present a sympathetic character. Her life is full of contradictions. She has no remorse for her life or the choices she has made. Her story is true, and Breaking Cardinal Rules goes into first hand and graphic detail. "This story needs to be told," says publisher Patricia Keiffner. 

In an interview with the IBJ, Powell says her book will tell how she provided entertainment to Louisville's basketball players, including sexual services, at 22 parties during the period of 2010-2014. She claims the parties took place in a university dorm where many of the players live. “I felt like I was part of the recruitment team. A lot of them players went to Louisville because of me,” Powell said in the book. Powell said she had no regrets about providing the illegal services to the young basketball players. “The only time I viewed it as being wrong is when I looked at the recruits’ faces when they were getting the sex,” Powell said. “It kind of made you feel bad that you have this young guy coming in to a college campus thinking he’s going to have a little fun, not knowing he’s going to have two or three girls on him at one time, he’s going to get alcohol, he’s going to get anything he wants or that they offer at that time.” In all, Powell claims about $10,000 in cash was exchanged for the sexual services provided to Louisville's basketball players.

News of Mickey's smut book is making headlines in the sports world today. Pitino, in a hastily-called press conference today, denied any direct knowledge of his former director of basketball operation using the Powell's escort service. Maurer, who purchased his name on Indiana University's Bloomington law school in exchange for a generous gift to the law school, denies his support of IU motivated a book sure to turn Louisville's basketball program upside down.

Pitino says he has contacted 15 or more current staffers about Powell's allegations and "to a person" they denied any knowledge of the use of Powell's escort services for recruits. Pitino talked to Andre McGee, who was recently hired by the University of Missouri-Kansas City after leaving Louisville. McGee's new employer has already responded to the book by placing him on administrative leave. Pitino says McGee denied Powell's allegations, although he apparently admits knowing her. Powell claims to have text messages and photos to prove her allegations. Pitino told reporters today he had not seen that evidence. UofL officials have retained an outside investigator to investigate the allegations.

Andre McGee's lawyer Scott Cox: "She's a whore. She is interested in making money."

— Jeff Greer (@jeffgreer_cj) October 2, 2015

McGee, himself a former Louisville player who suffers from sickle cell anemia, is accused of arranging the sexual trysts with Powell and other escorts. Pitino's staff first learned of the allegations after Maurer had asked a member of IU's basketball program to help him identify a photo of one of the former players Powell had allegedly serviced. Maurer did not inform Deputy Director of Athletics Scott Dolson of the purpose of his request initially. In an e-mail to Dolson's counterpart at Louisville, Kevin Miller, Dolson wrote: “Kevin – Hope all is well!! Below is an email from one of our all-time great IU benefactors Mickey Maurer….he needs some assistance in identifying one of your players in a photo and I told Mickey that I would connect him to you in hopes either you or someone in your department can help. Thanks in advance for your help Kevin and keep in touch!!!”

Maurer belatedly disclosed in a blanket e-mail the request was being made in regards to a book that was going to be unfavorable to Louisville. A red-faced Dolson immediately apologized to his counterpart, Miller. “Not sure what this is but it blindsided me,” Dolson wrote. “Please tell Kenny to handle however he feels appropriate.” IU Athletic Director Fred Glass told the Indianapolis Star that Dolson acted without knowledge of Maurer's original intent. “Scott Dolson put two and two together, and realized that he had been asked by Mickey Maurer to connect him with his counterpart at Louisville about a photo, but it seemed like an innocent, innocuous thing,” Glass said. “Mickey says that this is somehow going to reflect badly on Louisville, which kind of took everybody by surprise.”

Maurer, for his support, is denying his support of IU had any reason to do with his motivation for publishing Powell's tell-all book. "To say that I was motivated by being a big fan of Indiana is total lunacy." Powell acknowledged in an interview with the IBJ she was only receiving 10% of the book's sales. “She gets 10 percent commission of the gross, not net. That’s a big difference,” said Maurer, co-owner of IBJ Media and IBJ Book Publishing. “That seemed like a fair arrangement.” Yeah, a more than fair arrangement for him. He's probably already negotiating an HBO movie deal based on the book that will feature plenty of hardcore action.

Maurer, incidentally has already had one foray into the movie business with his production of "Diving In," a very mediocre movie filmed in Indianapolis that came out in 1990 about a high school diver, which featured a lot of scenes of teen boys in tight speedos. Mickey was trying to keep up with his rival, the late Indianapolis billionaire Mel Simon, who earlier had great success producing on a low budget the "Porky's" teen smut trilogy of movies with the obligatory negative Christian stereotypes thrown into the mix that Hollywood filmmakers are keen on propagating in their flicks.