Louisville escort says NCAA turned her away in March, claims Pitino knew everything

Katina Powell, the Louisville woman who alleges she was hired to provide escorts to Cardinals players and recruits, has filed a damning statement about what both Louisville and the NCAA knew of the scandal.

Related: Rick Pitino 'disheartened' by investigation into use of escorts to recruit

In an interview with the Indianapolis Business Journal - the sister publication of the book company that published her tell-all tale - Powell said she approached the NCAA in mid-March last year in an attempt to tell her story about the alleged wrongdoing at Louisville, only to be turned away without just cause.

"I called the NCAA in mid-March, I spoke with a young white guy, and I was telling him that I had a story about a college that was trading sex and all that stuff for money," Powell told IBJ in September. The problem is, she says she was never given the light of day.

"(The man who answered the phone) said he’s not allowed to take a story from somebody on the outside - you know, 'It’s hearsay (sic), I'm not doing that, I’m not taking the story.' I asked if there was anyone else I could possibly tell my story to, and he said, 'No, there’s no one else. We can’t take outside stories.' He hung up. I hung up."

Powell said she didn't have time to get the name of the individual on the phone, and the NCAA refused to comment on whether or not the phone call took place.

It's not unusual for the commission to hold comment on a case that is under investigation.

In a separate Q-and-A with the IBJ on Saturday, Powell said Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino knew about what was going on, despite repeating that neither he, nor anyone involved with the program, had any knowledge of the alleged transgressions.

"How can it be going on for four years, that many people be involved and that many people see what’s going on and Rick Pitino doesn’t know anything about it?" she said.

"When I would ask Andre (McGee), 'Does Pitino know about this?' he would laugh and say, 'Rick knows about everything.'"