Man guilty of trying to extort $3.5M from U of L

A jury deliberated less than two hours Wednesday before finding a Jackson, Miss., man guilty of trying to extort $3.5 million from the University of Louisville Athletic Association in exchange for his silence about a non-existent basketball point-shaving scandal.

After a two-day trial in U.S. District Court in Louisville, Thomas E. Ray, 36, was convicted of a single count of extortion for sending a threatening email from his home in Jackson under the pseudonym "Melinda White," according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Ray, who was indicted last year, faces up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced Nov. 3 by Chief Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr.

He was previously convicted in 2005 on 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.

In the U of L case, identical emails were sent to athletic director Tom Jurich and associate director Kevin Miller on April 23, 2013, alleging that an unnamed player had participated in a point-shaving incident in two rounds of the NCAA Tournament and that video of the player discussing it would be leaked to ESPN if the school didn't pay.

Jurich immediately contacted Attorney General Jack Conway and the NCAA, and the FBI traced the email to Ray's Yahoo account and Internet address, according to court records.

Investigators from the FBI, Louisville Metro Police and the Kentucky Attorney General's office determined the point-shaving allegation was bogus.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Spencer McKiness. Chief Federal Public Defender Scott Wendelsdorf, who defended Ray, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at (502) 582-7189.