ASPIRING AGENT FACES EXTORTION CHARGES : CAMBY ALLEGEDLY ACCEPTED SEXUAL FAVORS.

Byline: Associated Press 

An aspiring sports agent courted Marcus Camby with cars, jewelry, cash and sex, then turned to blackmail when spurned by the former Massachusetts basketball star, authorities said Thursday.

Hartford lawyer Wesley Spears was charged with first-degree attempted larceny by extortion and promoting prostitution following a six-month investigation into his dealings with Camby, now with the NBA's Toronto Raptors.

Angry last May that Camby was picking another agent, Spears threatened to tell the tabloids about the money, sexual trysts and other favors he provided Camby and to ``bring down UMass,'' an arrest affidavit said.

The 6-foot-11 player, who turned pro after his junior year, went to police in June with his blackmail allegation.

In return for his silence, Spears demanded Camby give him 4 percent of his salary and 25 percent of his endorsement fees, the affidavit said.

Spears surrendered at police headquarters Wednesday and was released pending his arraignment Jan. 6 in Superior Court. Neither he nor his attorney would comment.

``I really can't get into the details because it's in litigation, but in due time I'll speak my mind. I just have to deal with it and get it over with,'' Camby said in Toronto, where the Raptors played Milwaukee on Thursday night.

Camby, projected to return to the lineup on Dec. 26 after being sidelined with a back injury, expects opposing fans will give him a lot of grief.

``I can just imagine the stuff they're going to say,'' Camby said. ``But they can speak their piece, I just have to go about my business and just ignore them.''

He said he was ``disappointed that my family and friends have to go through this. I'll be fine, I'm a grown boy.''

The NCAA also has been investigating Camby's dealings with Spears. If Camby did accept money from an agent before his junior year, he technically would have been ineligible to play last season.

The NCAA could possibly force UMass to forfeit all of the games he played in his junior year, when the team had a 35-2 record and made the Final Four for the first time in school history.

In his statement to police, Camby, who grew up in Hartford, told of his first meeting with Spears in December 1995 at his UMass dormitory. He said Spears brought along a female companion and that he, a friend and another UMass basketball player, Charlton Clark, had sex with the woman in his dorm room.

The woman, who was Spears' tenant at the time, told authorities Spears cut her rent by $250 for her night's work.

After that, Camby said, Spears began showing up at UMass games with some of Camby's friends. The friends were given money and access to rental cars. He also said his friends gave him an expensive gold chain and diamond pendant around Christmas that he later learned had been purchased by Spears.

Camby admitted accepting $1,000 from Spears last May and also said he had sex with a woman at Spears' West Hartford home about that time. Spears took photographs of him and the naked woman, he said.

The blackmail attempt came a couple weeks later, when Spears learned that Camby was signing with ProServ, the affidavit said.

Camby quoted Spears as telling him: ``I was doing all this stuff for you and your guys and you better sign with me. I want 4 percent of your contract and 25 percent of your endorsements now, or I am going to Hard Copy and the Enquirer. If I can't have you, no one can.''

Camby told The Hartford Courant about his situation last June. At the time, he said he took ``a couple thousand'' dollars before his junior season from another agent who denies the allegations.

After the story broke, Camby accused Spears of blackmail. Spears has repeatedly denied the accusation.

James Bryant, Camby's agent, said from his Oklahoma office that he had anticipated Spears would be arrested. ``I think clearly that wrong things were done, and they were inappropriate,'' he said.

Bryant went to police in May after Camby's mother, Janice Camby, received legal papers that Bryant described as a fake $8 million lawsuit used in an attempt by Spears to attract Camby as a client.

Among other things, the ``lawsuit'' said: ``Camby required Spears to allow him to use Spears' house to hold sex parties and orgies to satisfy his unusual sexual appetite.''

When the papers were delivered, Bryant said, Camby's mother was told that if her son refused to cooperate, Spears would go public about the gifts and the women.