Swiss bodybuilder offered to kill Kobe Bryant's rape accuser for $3 million
A newly released 17-page FBI report details a case in which
a Swiss body builder offered to kill Kobe Bryant's rape accuser for $3 million
in 2003.
Swiss bodybuilder Patrick Graber was ultimately sentenced to
three years in prison in the case, after pleading no contest to grant theft in
2004 when prosecutors dropped several charges against him, including solicitation
to commit murder, the Associated Press and ESPN reported at the time.
The case came after a woman accused Bryant of raping her in
his hotel room at The Lodge & Spa at Cordillera in Edwards, Colorado, in
2003.
Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash in January 2020, had
said the sex was consensual, and charges were dropped after the woman refused
to testify. A settlement was eventually reached in a civil suit.
But a report posted this month on the FBI's vault website
describes Graber's offer for a murder-for-hire plot against Bryant's accuser,
the Denver Post first reported.
While the FBI report is heavily redacted, Graber's name was
made public when he was charged and sentenced in 2004.
The report said that Graber, a member of a Gold's Gym in
Venice who had alleged ties to the Russian mafia, sent Bryant a letter with
"inferences that he could make Bryant's problem with respect to the sexual
assault case go away for a fee."
Upon receiving the letter, Bryant's security team and
attorney then contacted the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
In a meeting with the sheriff's office, Graber offered to
"influence the victim" or "go all the way to remove the
witness," the report said.
Graber was then arrested by the FBI. He was ordered to be
deported upon finishing his sentence.
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