Madam tells all: Self-described escort Katina Powell, 43, has penned a tell-all book claiming that she was paid $10,000 to put on strip shows involving sex for University of Louisville's basketball recruits and players

A tell-all book written by an escort claiming that a former University of Louisville men's basketball staffer hired her nearly two dozen times to provide strippers to dance and have sex with Cardinals recruits, their fathers and players has sent shockwaves through the college basketball world.

The expose, Breaking The Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen, co-written by Louisville madam Katina Powell and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dick Cady, first surfaced on Amazon as a Kindle book last week, briefly catapulting to No 1 on the best-seller list in the sports category. A hardcover version is expected to come out Monday.

The 104-page e-book, which is largely based on the contents of Powell's five personal journals detailing her sexual escapades, alleges that Louisville's former director of basketball operations Andre McGee hired her and other dancers for 22 shows performed from 2010 to 2014, mostly at the Billy Minardi Hall dormitory.

She said McGee, 28, paid her $10,000 for her services.

According to Powell, 43, the parties thrown for Louisville recruits, their fathers and existing players involved sex with the strippers.

In one of the most shocking revelations in the book, an unapologetic Powell writes that she provided her own three daughters, who were 15, 17 and 19 years old at the time, as escorts for sex with the players.

'People may think that I expose my kids,' an excerpt from Powell's diary printed in the book reads. 'But, s***, they enjoy themlselves, they meet new people Believe me, they have their own lives, but they enjoy the perks of shows.

'For those who have a problem wit' this, kiss my a**.'

Special recruitment: The 104-page e-book, which is largely based on the contents of Powell's alleges that Louisville's former director of basketball operations Andre McGee (pictured) hired her and other dancers for 22 shows performed from 2010 to 2014

Witness speaks: Former Cardinals recruit JaQuan Lyle, now an Ohio State freshman, confirmed the 'gist of allegations' laid out in Powell's book during a meeting with NCAA

Four investigations have been launched, two this week, to review Powell's explosive allegations.

In Chapter 1 of Breaking The Cardinal Rules, Powell and Cady write that in 2010, Powell, a high school dropout in her late 30s, was a divorced mother of three daughters struggling to make ends meet.

Around the same time, she came to the realization that she could make easy money selling her body for sex.

Bombshell tome: The expose, Breaking The Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen, co-written by Powell and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dick Cady, was initially released as a Kindle book Friday. A hardcover version will be published Monday

'No overhead, no taxes, no complaints, no regrets. Sugar for sugar,' she writes in the book.

Before long, she joined a local escort service called Cheetah's, but Powell was unhappy that 60 per cent of her intake had to go to the owner.

Seeking a greater degree of financial independence, Powell launched a 'dance troupe' made up of unmarried friends 'who didn't mind strip-teasing' in clubs and at private bachelor parties.

'Naturally, a girl could pick up extra cash by giving customers the satisfaction they sought after becoming thoroughly inflamed watching a half-dozen chocolate-skinned babes flaunting their goodies,' she says tellingly in her expose.

Powell writes that the person who first introduced her to the idea of putting on shows at the University of Louisville was her friend Tink, who owned a local barber shop that was frequented by some of the college basketball players.

It was Tink, according to Powell, who put her in touch with Andre McGee about arranging adult entertainment for U of L recruits.

McGee had been a starting point guard for the Cardinals for four seasons and played for a year in Germany before coach head Rick Pitino hired him as an assistant whose job responsibilities included on campus recruiting efforts.

'In Basketball programs,' Powell and Cady write,' highly touted potential recruits are wooed like young princes and treated like celebrities.

'Victories, national glory and millions of dollars sometimes will hinge on the decisions, or perhaps whims, of adolescents still in high school.'

Powell says in the book that in 2010, she and McGee, then 23 years old, settled on a price for an evening of entertainment - $300 not including tips - and she went to work rounding up her troupe, which included strippers performing under such stage names as Meka, Skyy and Amber.

Fun home: Most of the strip shows and sex parties, Powell writes, took place at Billy Minardi Hall, named after coach Rick Pitino's late brother-in-law

EXCERPTS FROM KATINA POWELL'S BREAKING THE CARDINAL RULES FIRST SEX PARTY AT BILL MINARDI HALL '[Andre] McGee was in control when it came to the dorm. Andre told me how he wanted it done, but usually it was for me to send the girls out one at a time. 'There were seven or eight players and music from an iPod with speakers. Andre played this one song 'Racks on racks' (money on money) by rapper YC that drove the girls nuts - they were sick of it. 'The girls stripped down to nothing. They were my friends, so they were willing to do it. While they were dancing, Andre would find out which dancer each recruit and player wanted to have sex with. 'Then he would work a side-deal with me to negotiate the price. Usually $100-$120 each. Pay was always upfront. Andre paid me and I paid the girls on the spot. 'After the dancing, some of them went into others rooms with players.' POWELL'S DAUGHTERS AS ESCORTS 'People may think that I expose my kids. But, s***, they enjoy themselves, they meet new people Believe me, they have their own lives, but they enjoy the perks of shows. 'For those who have a problem wit' this, kiss my a**.' RECRUITS' DADS WERE NOT LEFT OUT 'The Dad [of one of the recruits] said he more than likely will send his son to Louisville due to the "more than extra" activities. 'He said he will call in the morning for two dancers if he has time before he leaves.' Advertisement

As for Powell, she chose the moniker Platinum for herself.

Powell describes how one night in 2010, she and her cohorts decked out in spangled bras and sequined bikini panties arrived on campus and slipped into the Billy Minardi Hall through a 'discreet' side door.

According to Powell, McGee met the night-time visitors at the entrance and led them to an empty dormitory suite where the show was to take place.

In an entry from one of her journals, Powell describes how McGee was running the show that night, having her send out her dancers one by one to entertain seven or eight players gathered in another room.

‘The girls stripped down to nothing. They were my friends, so they were willing to do it,’ she says.

During the performances, according to Powell, McGee ‘would find out which dancer each recruit and player wanted to have sex with.

I felt like I was part of the recruitment team. A lot of them players went to Louisville because of me. Katina Powell

‘Then he would work a side-deal with me to negotiate the price. Usually $100-$120 each. Pay was always upfront. … After the dancing, some of them went into others rooms with players.'

Players and recruits were not the only ones who allegedly participated in Powell's parties.

Quoting from her diary, the book states that the father of one of the recruits 'said he more than likely will send his son to Louisville due to the "more than extra" activities. He said he will call in the morning for two dancers if he has time before he leaves.'

In all, Katina Powell claims that McGee hired her troupe no fewer than 22 times before resigning in 2014, a year after Louisville won the NCAA Championship.

'I felt like I was part of the recruitment team. A lot of them players went to Louisville because of me,' she writes.

Former Cardinals recruit JaQuan Lyle, now an Ohio State freshman, confirmed the 'gist of allegations' laid out in Powell's book during a meeting Tuesday with the NCAA, CBS Sports reported Thursday.

Louisville men's basketball spokesman Kenny Klein had no comment on the report.

'Pimp duties': In one passage, Powell writes McGee, then 23 years old (left) 'would find out which dancer each recruit and player wanted to have sex with' and negotiate a price for each escort

Lyle originally signed with Louisville before de-committing and eventually landing with the Buckeyes. OSU spokesman Dan Wallenberg confirmed the NCAA meeting via email on Wednesday but said there were no issues with Ohio State. He did not mention Louisville.

However, a former Cardinals player has disputed some of the more serious allegations, telling ESPN that strippers visited the campus 'one or two times,' but nothing more than dancing took place.

'They were just up there dancing in bathing suits, they didn't even get all the way nude,' a source told the site.

The girls stripped down to nothing. They were my friends, so they were willing to do it. While they were dancing, Andre [McGee] would find out which dancer each recruit and player wanted to have sex with. Katina Powell

He added: 'It was just [for fun], and after that it was like a regular night. We went out to a club. Far as paying for sex -- nobody did that. She [Powell] is lying about that.'

Powell's book was released online by a publishing affiliate of the Indianapolis Business Journal.

According to an article in the Journal, IBJ Book Publishing hired multiple investigators to vet Powell’s story.

Publisher Patricia Keiffner told IBJ she felt relief upon reading that JaQuan Lyle has essentially confirmed the allegations outlined in the book.

In Breaking The Cardinal Rules, Powell says she brought three escorts to meet with Lyle in June of 2013 while he was on a recruiting trip to campus, reported the station WDRB.

'McGee texted me like, what’s up? He wanted me to bring three girls up there for a new recruit named JaQuan Lyle, he and his friend. I took [escorts] Rod-Ni, TooTall, Jazmine and Shay, who calls herself Sammi. TooTall made $100, Shay made $100, and Jazzy made nothing because she did absolutely nothing.'

With questions mounting about who did what, who knew what and when, Louisville President James Ramsey stressed the need for patience as the investigations move forward.

Ramsey said Thursday in a statement that, 'We must, as one university, continue doing the work we do to move our university and our community forward.'

In Breaking The Cardinal Rules, Powell says she brought three escorts to meet with Lyle (right) in June of 2013 while he was on a recruiting trip to Louisville. He eventually landed with the Buckeyes in Ohio

Campus police took a couple of days to review the book's details before Chief Wayne Hall announced Tuesday that his department is working with Louisville Metro Police and the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office to review the allegations for possible criminal charges.

The independent University of Louisville Foundation, which does fundraising for the school, hired a law firm Thursday to review the allegations in Powell's tell-all.

There were ongoing investigations by the NCAA and Louisville that had begun when the school was notified in late August about Powell's accusations.

People may think that I expose my kids. But, s***, they enjoy themselves, they meet new people Believe me, they have their own lives, but they enjoy the perks of shows. Katina Powell

As Ramsey called for people to let the process unfold, he also praised longtime athletic director Tom Jurich's 'exemplary' supervision of the department. The president, however, didn't mention U of L's legendary head coach Rick Pitino — raising even more questions.

The coach talked about the omission in a radio interview later Thursday, saying, 'I'm sorry that Dr. Ramsey did not think enough to mention me, but that's something I cannot control.'

Pitino then bristled at a question if the widespread attention now on his program has made him consider resigning.

'I don't know what resigning would accomplish,' Pitino, 63, told 840 WHAS. 'I think that's the cowardly way out if I resign now without coaching two fifth-year seniors and people who came to play for me. What does it do for the program if the coach runs away?

'If I resign, would people feel better about it?'

Much depends on what the investigations uncover, but the book's allegations have raised several troubling questions.

Denial: Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino has said he didn't know of the strip shows allegedly organized by McGee and insisted that Louisville didn't need to hire dancers to attract top-flight recruits

Andre McGee left Louisville in 2014 for Missouri-Kansas City, which has placed him on paid administrative leave. Neither Powell nor McGee has commented publicly since the release of the book.

A week before the book's publication, however, McGee's attorney, Scott C. Cox, lashed out at the 43-year-old escort-turned-author, calling her a 'whore' in an interview with Larry Brown Sports.

Cox, who represents the 28-year-old Louisville alum against the allegations in Powell's book, argued that the madam is 'only interested in making money.'

Coach Pitino has said McGee denied Powell's allegations and repeated in his second local radio interview in three days that he didn't know those activities took place in the dorm named after his late brother-in-law, Billy Minardi, who was killed in the September 11 attacks in New York.

The coach said he was still trying to understand the motive behind McGee's alleged actions and said that Louisville didn't need to hire dancers to attract top-flight recruits to his elite program.

'If you're the University of Louisville, you don't need any help with those artificial means to get players,' Pitino said. 'This is one of the premier programs in the nation.'