One of Bernie Fine's Accusers Admits to Lying and Recants

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Mitchell Ayes

Floyd VanHooser, a prison inmate and one of four men who accused former Syracuse Associate Basketball Coach Bernie Fine of having sexual relationships with them when they were children, has admitted that he lied. VanHooser said he wanted to get back at Fine because Fine did not hire a lawyer to help VanHooser fight a criminal conviction. In December, VanHooser told The Associated Press that Fine began sexually abusing him when he was 14 years old, and the abuse continued as an adult, when the contact included sex acts for money.

In a prison interview on Friday, VanHooser said that he and Fine had a sexual relationship as adults for many years, and it continued until last summer. VanHooser said Fine first approached him for sex when he was in his 30s, and that he was usually high on heroin when they had sex. Additionally, on Thursday, The Post-Standard, a Syracuse newspaper, received copies of two letters dated Nov. 29 that VanHooser wrote and mailed to Fine. In the letter VanHooser stated, "In a statement I gave, I told a lot of lies about Bernie Fine. None of what I said was true. Bernie has been nothing but good to me over the years. He was the only thing I had close to a father. He never did anything wrong. He is a good man."

Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, without seeing the letters, said he was not surprised that VanHooser admitted he lied about Fine. In fact, last month Fitzpatrick, referred to an unnamed fourth accuser in the Fine case as someone serving a life sentence in prison and a persistent felon. He said that person's claims were not credible.

VanHooser is serving 16 years to life at Clinton state prison near the Canadian border for several burglaries of Syracuse-area homes. He was sentenced in October as a persistent felony burglar.

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Syracuse Abuse Scandal: Jim Boeheim Claimed Defamation and an Interesting Twist

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Chris Fusco

As admitted by legendary basketball coach, Jim Boeheim, he should not have called Bobby Davis and Michael Lang “liars” and “out for the money and nothing else.” Boeheim has now recanted these statements and apologized.

Both Davis and Lang claim that they were sexually abused, as children years ago, by now fired Syracuse Assistant Coach Bernie Fine. These allegations cannot be locally prosecuted as the statute of limitations has run but they are the subject of an ongoing federal investigation.

In response to Boeheim’s comments, Davis and Lang, through celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, commenced a lawsuit against Syracuse University and Jim Boeheim for damages on a claim of defamation. Now, normally calling someone a liar can be construed as an attack on a person’s reputation. However, in the case, the plaintiffs’ are claiming that the words used by Boeheim are much worse because of the speaker is in the Syracuse community.

Davis and Lang argue that they were damaged by being verbally attacked by Boeheim who is more than prominent and powerful figure in Syracuse. They noted that Boeheim has “star status” in Syracuse and because he is “elite.”

In sum, Davis and Lang are alleging that not only the words uttered by Boeheim were damaging to their reputations but this offense has been compounded by the star-like status of a very powerful speaker. 

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