Arizona couple indicted for allegedly extorting Georgia Tech over false Josh Pastner sexual assault accusation
An Arizona couple have been indicted on federal charges over what the U.S. Department of Justice says was a conspiracy to extort Georgia Tech with false sexual assault allegations against the school's men's basketball coach, Josh Pastner.
Ronald Bell, 56, and Jennifer Pendley, 50, face charges of conspiracy to transmit a threat interstate, conspiracy to extort property from another, and attempted extortion.
Josh Pastner extortion goes back a half-decade
The saga began in 2017, when Bell, a recovering addict and formerly incarcerated person whom Pastner helped get clean, came forward with evidence that Pastner had provided illegal benefits to two Yellow Jackets players after a falling out over what Bell said was insufficient compensation. He also complained Pastner did not call him on his birthday.
Things escalated a year later, when Pastner filed a lawsuit against the couple alleging, among other things, defamation and attempted blackmail. The couple responded with a countersuit, alleging Pastner had assaulted Pendley in a Houston hotel room, which Pastner's attorney said was “a last-ditch effort to continue an extortion and blackmail scheme.”
An unrelated violation of probation landed Bell in jail that year, leading to monitored phone calls between the two in which they heavily indicated the accusation against Pastner was indeed a fabrication.
From the DOJ:
"The defendants are alleged to have falsely accused Georgia Tech’s coach of sexual assault," said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. "They then demanded a large payment in exchange for a retraction of the claim. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and our other federal law enforcement partners are especially proficient in exposing false allegations designed to extort money. Individuals who attempt to perpetrate such criminal schemes at the expense of law-abiding citizens will be caught and prosecuted."
"Once again, greed does not pay,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. "These defendants sought to damage the reputations of the institution and coach for their own financial gain. The FBI will not stop in bringing people who try and commit this type of fraud to justice."
According to the DOJ's announcement, Bell and Pendley allegedly recruited a Georgia Tech security guard to falsely claim he had witnessed an assault of Pendley, telling the guard he would be entitled to a share of a potential windfall of $20 million. Bell also allegedly approached representatives of Georgia Tech with demands for money in exchange for not reporting the false sexual assault.
When pressed by law enforcement, the security guard reportedly admitted his statements were false and Bell had approached him.
Georgia Tech was sanctioned over violations
While the sexual assault accusations against Pastner were allegedly fabricated, the NCAA violations reported by Bell did end up hurting the Yellow Jackets.
Pastner reported the violations to Georgia Tech's compliance department after Bell came forward in 2017, per ESPN, leading Georgia Tech to self-report the violations to the NCAA and declare the two players in question — Josh Okogie and Tadric Jackson — ineligible.
The NCAA eventually suspended Okogie six games and Jackson three games, then hit the Georgia Tech with a one-year postseason ban and four years of probation over what it ruled to be $2,424 in illegal benefits funneled through Bell.
Multiple sanctions against Georgia Tech were later vacated in Feb. 2021, but this saga clearly won't be over until the case against Bell and Pendley is resolved.