Kurt Busch's accuser denies embezzlement claims, rips ESPN report

Kurt Busch's ex-girlfriend denies embezzling money from her non-profit organization, rips ESPN report

The ex-girlfriend of NASCAR driver Kurt Busch denied, through an attorney, that she has embezzled money from her non-profit company Armed Forces Foundation, saying that an ESPN report was “one-sided” and that she is considering pursing legal action against the network.

ESPN’s Outside the Lines reported Thursday that Patricia Driscoll, the president of the Armed Forces Foundation, an organization that helps wounded veterans in need, "has, in effect, been repeatedly used as a bank to lend money for or pay various personal expenses," including using the foundation’s money to pay her personal state and federal taxes, rent on a Washington, D.C., building used for AFF’s headquarters, and to pay for personal expenses on trips to Paris and Morocco.

Her lawyer released a statement denying the allegations in the report. 

“The Armed Forces Foundation (AFF) is extremely proud of its work and achievements on behalf of this nation’s veterans. The one-sided reporting of ESPN makes accusations that are blatantly and demonstrably false," attorney L. Lin Wood said. “Representatives from our organization asked ESPN for additional information and for a reasonable time period before publication to investigate its claims, but those requests were denied.”

Driscoll and Busch had been in a legal battle, with Driscoll accusing Busch of smashing her head into a bedroom wall and choking her in his motorhome at Dover International Speedway in September.

Busch called Driscoll a “trained assassin” during his testimony in a four-day hearing over her request for a no-contact order. He said Driscoll was sent on covert missions around the world and said she was a scorned ex-girlfriend.

Busch was suspended by NASCAR in February after a Delaware court ruled that it was "more likely than not" Busch committed an act of abuse against Driscoll. He avoided criminal charges in the case when the Delaware state attorney's office declined to prosecute him, and NASCAR reinstated Busch in March after he completed the mandatory behavioral assessment sessions.

- Scooby Axson