Penn State football at center of federal investigation into sexual extortion of their athletes

Penn State football is at the center of a serious federal investigation into allegations of sexual extortion, with video and photo evidence. A new report outlines that video and photographic evidence used during a state investigation was recently unsealed, making way for a federal investigation into allegations by student-athletes that were victims of sexual extortion.

The case was previously closed by state investigators, but an appeal to have the evidence gathered by warrants unsealed has opened the door for a federal investigation to begin.

Penn State at center of federal investigation

According to the report, Penn State police became aware of the case on Sept. 26 of last year, when two student-athletes alleged that they were victims of sexual extortion by a woman online. One of the athletes alleged that they were convinced to share “sexually explicit photos of himself” with a woman he met on a dating app, who then threatened to share the images on social media and with head coach James Franklin.

Now, the investigation is being conducted on a federal level as there is reportedly video and photographic evidence of group sex acts and photos taken from within the Penn State football locker room. The warrants for the evidence were unsealed on Friday in a court proceeding, with Penn State attempting to keep the evidence sealed to prevent “great personal embarrassment and insult” for the athletes.

The warrants reportedly include “19 videos taken from within the Penn State football locker room.” Additionally, the warrants indicate that one of the Instagram accounts allegedly used by the woman had a dropbox folder including 33 videos and one image. The report indicates that five athletes total were allegedly victimized by the woman, and that she told one of the victims that “she liked doing this to athletes.”

Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna said their office closed the investigation last month without filing any charges, “partially due to the victims no longer wanting to pursue the matter.” The warrants also allege that the person behind the account online also attempted to extort high school and college athletes from other states as well.

“The University’s concern was focused on potential student victims and their right to privacy in the case, and that possible irreparable and irreversible damage that the immediate unsealing could impose,” said Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers, via Penn Live. “There was never any intent to permanently seal the warrants, only to redact the names of victims.”