Kansas AD Perkins declines to talk about police reports he filed that say he was blackmailed

Kansas AD declines to talk about blackmail probe

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins said Tuesday he had been urged by lawyers not to publicly discuss police reports he filed that claim he was the target of blackmail.

Perkins, 65, also said he was determined to stay on the job and help steer Kansas through a possible breakup of the Big 12 Conference, the main topic of conversation in league meetings that opened on Tuesday.

A former employee of the Kansas athletic department has accused Perkins of accepting $35,000 in exercise equipment in exchange for letting the company’s owners get access to premium men’s basketball tickets.

Perkins has denied the charge, as has the company’s former owner. Perkins also said the equipment was not worth nearly as much as $35,000. Police said the investigation into the blackmail allegations are ongoing.

“I’m the victim,” Perkins said in an impromptu news conference. “I turned everything over to the police department. I’ve been told I can’t discuss this. At some time I’ll be more than happy to discuss it, to discuss all I know. You can ask 1,000 questions and I’d love to answer every one of them. But I am not able to do that.”

Perkins said lawyers had told him he couldn’t even talk about his personal feelings as a second scandal in less than two weeks buffeted the Jayhawks and their athletic director. An internal report was released last week accusing five employees and a part-time consultant of selling Kansas basketball and football tickets for personal gain. The scam cost Kansas at least $1 million and perhaps as much as $3 million, the investigators said. The FBI and IRS are investigating.

“I have been instructed by law enforcement and attorneys that I can’t talk about anything,” Perkins told a small room packed with reporters. “Believe me, I would love to get a lot of things off my chest. But I can’t talk about anything.”

Perkins did indicate the ticket and equipment issues have kept him from devoting his full time to possible Big 12 realignment and how it might affect Kansas.

“There are so many rumors out there, it’s hard to know what might happen. It’s hard to figure out what’s fact and what’s fiction,” Perkins said. “I do think that for Kansas and every school in the country right now, this is the most important thing facing us — conference realignment. This is where our focus needs to be.”