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Internal Review Clears Kansas AD Lew Perkins Of Any Wrongdoing In Blackmail Case

Kansas AD Lew Perkins can breathe a slight sigh of relief.

After KU's tickets scandal drew headlines, the University was once again in the news following reports that Perkins accepted exercise equipment in exchange for premium basketball tickets.

William Dent, a former KU athletics employee, claimed he gave Perkins exercise equipment in exchange for basketball seats for the owners of Medical Outfitters. The owners of the company denied the allegations.

Perkins reportedly paid the company $5,000 in April for the equipment and then told police he was being blackmailed.

An internal review from Kansas cleared Perkins of any wrongdoing.

Hummert and Humphrey reviewed seating records and interviewed Kansas athletics staff and others about the claim of an exchange. They determined that Medical Outfitters had made an in-kind contribution to Kansas Athletics - not to Perkins - of a whirlpool for use by the athletics department. The school said the gift was inadvertently not credited to Medical Outfitters co-owner Patrick Carpenter's priority points account for the 2004-05 season. When that was rectified the following season, Carpenter's seats understandably improved.

Perkins is in the clear in this particular incident but may have to answer on the recent ticket scandal.