主题：【纪事】科比捅出奥尼尔性骚扰过去 -- 老叶

Wire Reports

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

According to several published reports, hours after his sexual encounter with a hotel employee in Colorado, Kobe Bryant told investigators that Shaquille O'Neal, his Laker teammate at the time, had paid up to $1 million to women to keep them quiet about "situations like this."

An Eagle County, Colo., detective wrote in a report that Bryant made the comment near the end of a lengthy interrogation on July 2, 2003, about allegations that Bryant had raped the woman, then 19, in his resort hotel room.

The Los Angeles Times will report in Wednesday's editions that O'Neal was informed of the comment last September- about two weeks before Laker training camp opened in Hawaii- when prosecution investigators made an unsuccessful attempt to question him. Shaq's agent, Perry Rogers, said Tuesday that the allegation in Bryant's statement was untrue and "undeserving of a response."

Previously published reports quoted Bryant's 75-minute tape-recorded interview, but one of the detectives on the case said that the comments about O'Neal came after his partner had turned off the recorder.

The report is part of a sealed file in the criminal case that was dropped earlier this month.

"Bryant made a comment to us about what another teammate does in situations like these," Det. Doug Winters wrote. "Bryant stated he should have done what Shaq does. He stated Shaq has paid up to a million dollars already for situations like this. He stated he, Bryant, treats a woman with respect, therefore they shouldn't say anything."

Asked if Bryant's purported comments had strained the relationship between the two players, O'neal's agent responded. "It didn't have any impact on the relationship," Rogers said, "because Shaquille had a very professional approach to his career there and because he has had an understanding of Kobe, Kobe's interests and Kobe's priorities. Kobe has historically been shown to be interested in one person and one person alone."

Still, at least one radio station in Los Angeles reports that the reported rape incident may have led directly to the break-up of the Los Angeles Lakers.

"This is an amazing story," said John Ziegler- whose show airs weeknights on KFI AM640 in Los Angeles. "Kobe's comments could very well have robbed this city of their favorite basketball team... It has become increasingly clear that this played a huge part in why the Lakers were broken up."

O'Neal takes shot at Bryant as feud escalates

September 29, 2004

NEW YORK (AP) -- Separating Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal on different teams on different coasts has done nothing to lessen the animosity between the one-time Los Angeles Laker teammates. If anything, the feud is escalating.

On Wednesday, O'Neal dismissed as ``ridiculous'' Bryant's allegations that O 'Neal had paid up to $1 million in hush money to various women and then took his own shot by saying, ``I'm not the one buying love.'' O'Neal made the remark over the telephone to a staffer at ESPN, the network said, after the Los Angeles Times quoted a police report as saying Bryant told detectives in Eagle, Colo., ``he should have done what Shaq does ... that Shaq would pay his women not to say anything'' and already had paid up to $1 million ``for situations like this.''

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The statement came near the end of a lengthy interrogation about a hotel emp loyee's complaint that Bryant had raped her.

The Times said it was unclear precisely what Bryant meant by his remarks.

Prosecutors dropped criminal charges against Bryant earlier this month at the accuser's request, but the woman has filed a federal civil suit against him in Denver, seeking unspecified damages for pain and suffering since the case began.

O'Neal was informed of Bryant's allegation last September, and the relations hip between the two was cool throughout the 2003-04 season. O'Neal was subsequently traded to the Miami Heat.

``This whole situation is ridiculous,'' O'Neal told ESPN. ``I never hang out with Kobe, I never hung around him. In the seven or eight years we were together, we were never together. So how this guy can think he knows anything about me or my business is funny. And one last thing -- I'm not the one buying love. He's the one buying love.''

O'Neal's latter comment was an apparent reference to a ring -- reportedly costing several million dollars -- that Bryant gave his wife, Vanessa, after he was charged with felony sexual assault last summer.

There have been no published reports of O'Neal ever being accused of any sex crimes. He was charged with misdemeanor battery in Orange County, Fla., in 1998 after a 23-year-old Walt Disney World employee claimed he grabbed her neck, but the case was dismissed in 2000.

Updated on Wednesday, Sep 29, 2004 7:36