Investigation of Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner finds sexual assault claims 'concocted'

A.J. Perez | USA TODAY

An independent investigation of Georgia Tech basketball coach Josh Pastner over allegations of sexual misconduct found the claims to be false and “concocted” as part of an extortion scheme.

The 29-page report from the law firm Fisher & Phillips, obtained by USA TODAY Sports on Monday, detailed numerous attempts by former Pastner friend Ronald Bell to blackmail Pastner, including apparently fabricating allegations that Pastner sexually assaulted Bell’s girlfriend, Jennifer Pendley.

“Bell turned his access in Josh Pastner’s world into a potential money-making opportunity,” Scott Schneider, a partner at Fisher & Phillips, wrote in the report. “Unfortunately for Bell, all of his requests to 'settle this amicably' were rebuffed which, in turn, only led him to escalate his allegations. Bell and Pendley’s allegations that Pastner sexually assaulted Pendley are baseless.”

Pendley and Bell made the allegations public as part of countersuit in Arizona after Pastner filed a defamation lawsuit against the couple in January. In their filing in Pima County (Ariz.) Superior Court, Pendley and Bell claimed Pastner engaged in misconduct toward Pendley multiple times in February-March of 2016 while Pastner was coaching at the University of Memphis. The allegations included a purported sexual assault.

“In sum, Pendley’s claims are facially implausible, contradicted by verifiable facts, and undermined by a string of contemporaneous communications with the Pastners which belie any claim that Pastner mistreated Pendley in any way,” Schneider concluded in the report.

Bell sent messages to Pastner and his wife for several months seeking money so as not to expose alleged NCAA violations. When Pastner failed to pay, Bell told CBS Sports in November that he had provided impermissible benefits to two Georgia Tech players in order to keep them from transferring.

Bell continued to demand money from Pastner, and when that didn’t happen, the accusation of sexual misconduct surfaced.

"Unequivocally, there is zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero truth to any of those disgusting, bogus allegations," Pastner said in February. "It's disgusting."



