On Tuesday night three men were arrested for trying to extort $3 million from Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony.
Joubert Santos and Jason Pabon of the Bronx, and Rodrigo Sanchez of South Orange, N.J., had a videotape that showed Anthony fighting at a Manhattan nightclub in September with a man known as Sugar Ray, police said.
The fight broke out after Ray spit a drink on Anthony's girlfriend, MTV host La La Vasquez, said Jane Yin, a spokeswoman for Anthony's agent, Calvin Andrews. Ray and Vasquez were once engaged.
No one was hurt in the fight, but the three men demanded $3 million from Anthony in exchange for the tape. A meeting was set up Tuesday night near Central Park with an undercover police detective posing as a representative for Anthony, said Sgt. Michele Irizarry, a police spokeswoman.
A check was handed over, and Santos, 29, Pabon, 26, and Sanchez, 36, were arrested and charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
"I just found out today that they were arrested. So I'm happy the police handled it the best that they could," Anthony said after the Nuggets beat New Jersey 90-88 Tuesday night.
Carmelo he had been worried about the situation.
"It would be something anybody would think about. It is a lot to handle. Things happen for a reason," he said.