Former Louisville Basketball Coach Charged with Extortion

Former University of Louisville assistant men’s basketball coach has been federally charged with an attempt to extort money from the Cardinals program, according to court documents and various media reports.

After the Cardinals missed out on this season’s NCAA Tournament, Louisville head coach Chris Mack did not renew the contracts of Dino Gaudio and another assistant coach, which set off a series of dominoes, so to speak, according to a report in The Courier-Journal.

Charging documents released earlier this week say that Gaudio, on March 17, in an in-person meeting with Louisville personnel, threatened to report to the media allegations that the basketball program had violated NCAA rules in its production of recruiting videos for prospective student-athletes and in the use of its graduate assistants in practices – unless the university paid his salary an additional 17 months or an equivalent lump sum, The Courier-Journal reported.

The report went on to add that Gaudio sent a text message to U of L personnel containing one of the recruiting videos he threatened to send to the media.

Gaudio was charged through criminal information rather than an indictment, which is done when the defendant doesn’t intend to contest charges, The Courier-Journal reported. The maximum penalty for the charge is two years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or both, but it will likely be far less under federal sentencing guidelines.

“Dino has lived an exemplary life and coached at the highest level and changed the lives of thousands of athletes,” Butler said. “It is our hope that people who know and love Dino will consider this lapse of judgment in the context of 40 years of making the world and college basketball a better place.”

The University of Louisville released the following statement:

“The allegations of violations are the impermissible production of recruiting videos for prospective student-athletes and the impermissible use of graduate managers in practices and workouts. While the University cannot comment further due to the ongoing federal investigation and the NCAA process, it continues to cooperate with authorities as well as with the NCAA on the matter.”

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Included in the release from the university was the following statement from Mack:

“While I cannot comment on the details or substance of the matter, I am grateful for the professionalism of members of law enforcement and the United States Attorney’s Office. The University and I were the victims of Coach Gaudio’s conduct and I will continue to fully cooperate with authorities in their investigations. We take seriously any allegation of NCAA violations within our basketball program and will work within the NCAA processes to fully review the allegations.”

To read the full story from The Courier-Journal, click here.