FBI unseals documents on hit scheme of Kobe Bryant accuser

The FBI has unsealed documents related to a hit scheme in which a man offered to kill a Colorado woman who had accused the NBA star Kobe Bryant of rape.

A heavily redacted 17-page report released earlier this month details how Patrick Graber, a bodybuilder, made an offer to Bryant to execute a murder hit on his accuser. 

The Denver Post reported Wednesday on the release of the documents. 

Some details of the case had been previously disclosed, as Graber was sentenced to three years in prison after authorities learned of his plans. Graber’s name is redacted from the report.

The document states that Graber mailed a $3 million offer to Bryant through Federal Express in 2003 in which he said that he could make Bryant’s “problem” go away for a fee. 

Bryant’s security team and his attorneys then notified the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department about the letter. Deputies then traveled to Colorado to warn Bryant’s accuser about the threat, according to court documents. 

Federal authorities arrested Graber after setting multiple meetings with him and arranging to pay the suspect using fake money from Hollywood film sets. 

Authorities interviewed various witnesses, including Graber’s neighbors and employees at a Los Angeles Gold’s Gym, the report said. 

Bryant was arrested and charged in 2003 after a woman claimed the five-time NBA champion raped her in a Colorado hotel room, according to the Denver Post. 

The charges against Bryant were later dropped after the woman refused to testify in court. The parties reached a settlement in a civil lawsuit.

Bryant, who was recently enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, died alongside his daughter Gianna and seven others in a helicopter crash in January 2020.