Keeping Track of Criminal Cases & SafeSport Suspensions in Skating

[Vagabond]

Spoiler: Quirky, snarky humor. Please do not read if you are easily offended.

This is a pet peeve of mine, but I HATE when someone references how they're a "good person" when accused of doing something bad.

For me, it depends on the circumstances.

 

[clairecloutier]

Christine Brennan reports that in September 2020, Mitch Moyer of USFS reported Dalilah Sappenfield to SafeSport because Sappenfield was hosting a 16-year-old Russian female pairs skater in her home, a situation expressly forbidden according to the USFS SafeSport handbook for coaches. Moyer "directed the operation" to remove the 16-year-old from Sappenfield's home:

US figure skating coach, now temporarily barred, had teenage skater removed from her home in 2020

U.S. Olympic pairs coach Dalilah Sappenfield had a then-16-year-old Russian female skater removed from her home by a U.S. Figure Skating official.

www.usatoday.com

On September 24, 2020, Kayne/O'Shea announced they were leaving Sappenfield to seek another coaching situation:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFidBg5pzPU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

[ЭPiKUilyam]

Is there more to this situation than just Dalilah housed a student who is a minor? Where else would a Russian transplant stay if she had no friends/relatives to live with? I mean, didn't Kristi Yamaguchi live with Kristy Ness up in Edmonton? It just seems like there has to be more here to the story.

 

[skatingguy]

Is there more to this situation than just Dalilah housed a student who is a minor? Where else would a Russian transplant stay if she had no friends/relatives to live with? I mean, didn't Kristi Yamaguchi live with Kristy Ness up in Edmonton? It just seems like there has to be more here to the story.

Not necessarily - things are a lot different now than they were when Yamaguchi was training. This seems like the sort of situation that billet families exist for.

 

[Willin]

Back in the '90s there were no explicit rules against it. Now there are. Usually I'd hear of club/rink host families rather than living with coaches, but it did definitely happen. Most recently that I know of, Adam Rippon lived in Rafael Artunyan's basement for a while - albeit when he was already an adult.

 

[clairecloutier]

It’s also mentioned in the article that Dalilah had two male skaters living with her at the same time. The boys were over 18, but it may be considered a no-no or inadvisable for juvenile skaters to be living with older skaters??? This is just a guess or question on my part—don’t know what the actual rules are.

 

[vu2019]

It’s also mentioned in the article that Dalilah had two male skaters living with her at the same time. The boys were over 18, but it may be considered a no-no or inadvisable for juvenile skaters to be living with older skaters??? This is just a guess or question on my part—don’t know what the actual rules are.

Here is the U.S. Figure Skating handbook:

https://www.usfigureskating.org/sites/default/files/media-files/U.S.%20Figure%20Skating%20SafeSport%20Handbook_2.pdf

 

[Karen-W]

You know the whole thing about this latest story is that it makes it all the more that the USFS would ask for a release from the German fed for Aljona to skate with TJ and in Dalilah's group. Like, really, what were they thinking there in Colorado Springs?

 

[Frau Muller]

Yahoo news story:

US figure skating coach, now temporarily barred, had teenage skater removed from her home in 2020

U.S. Olympic pairs coach Dalilah Sappenfield had a then-16-year-old Russian female skater removed from her home by a U.S. Figure Skating official.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[BittyBug]

Like, really, what were they thinking there in Colorado Springs?

Apparently, they weren't thinking.

 

[Frau Muller]

Doesn’t some of this - “baiting” with promise of economic success...and moving underaged females for pairs or dance partnerships - fall under the definition of human trafficking? Yes, it does.

It would be interesting to map-out the supply chain - who got cuts in all of this. Not just Delilah/Colorado USA but other well known “deal spots,” in Michigan...NJ...ex-USSR orbit of countries. I mean go way back to the late 1990s with what we used to call “Rent a Russian” (usually guy) for partnerless skaters from “the West” - US, Japan, wherever. Not all stories were sad; some adult couples married and lived happily. What’s illegal is the trafficking aspect & money that passed hands to make it happen.

 

[clairecloutier]

We don’t know that money passed hands ... but it's certainly possible that it has, at times. The market factors driving this are supply/demand. Certain countries having oversupply of certain types of skaters; other countries having undersupply. And although Russia/Ukraine have often been the countries with oversupply, sometimes U.S./Canada are too (more so in singles, but even in dance/pairs--think Takahashi/Tran, Min/various partners). It's strange to think of it as a form of human trafficking, and yet, particularly with underage/minor skaters, there are aspects of the practice that are clearly questionable, or at the least, require monitoring.

The issue that USFS reported Sappenfield for--skater living with coach--was also present in the case of Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya. She lived with Harley Windsor's coaches, the Pachins, for a period of time after she and Harley teamed up.

 

[MacMadame]

I think it's interesting that USFS reported her. This says to me that they knew she was doing questionable things and didn't want a minor living with her.

I wonder if they wanted to report her for other things but didn't have enough proof so went with this one. Kind of like getting Al Capone for tax evasion.

 

[ЭPiKUilyam]

I think it's interesting that USFS reported her. This says to me that they knew she was doing questionable things and didn't want a minor living with her.

I wonder if they wanted to report her for other things but didn't have enough proof so went with this one. Kind of like getting Al Capone for tax evasion.

That's what I was thinking, too. Kind of like nailing a mobster crook for simple tax evasion. I think there is so much more to the Dalilah story that so many people are just sick of it yet can't say one word about it publicly.



ETA: I didn't see Mac's comment about Al Capone. So we're both brilliant minds thinking alike! lol

 

[Vagabond]

It's pretty easy to prove sharing a residence with an unrelated minor. Which raises the question of why Sappenfield did it. She must have come to believe that the rules didn't apply to her or that she could get away with it.

 

[Yuri]

В фигурном катании новый скандал. В нем замешаны американский тренер и 16-летняя россиянка

Известная специалистка Далайла Саппенфилд поселила несовершеннолетнюю в своем доме, несмотря на категорический запрет и обвинения от предыдущих учеников.

www.sport-express.ru

Here's a fairly lengthy Russian article, with the usual strange and occasionally funny Russian-to-English translations, based upon the USA Today article on Sappenfield. It also mentions the Morgan Cipres SafeSport investigation.

 

[Gris]

https://twitter.com/AnythingGOE/status/1458415107046793217

Stefano Caruso's students have come forward about being abused by him. (The Berliner Zeitung article linked in the tweet above is behind a paywall)

 

[kirkbiggestfan]

Caruso used to date Papadakis.

 

[ЭPiKUilyam]

https://twitter.com/AnythingGOE/status/1458415107046793217

Stefano Caruso's students have come forward about being abused by him. (The Berliner Zeitung article linked in the tweet above is behind a paywall)

I am reposting from the GermanThread. So, the GermanSafeSport is doing nothing about this coach and now LSB is getting involved? I really am losing any faith in this whole "SafeSport" business. Known abusers of children that were put on suspension suddenly are taken off and their records are cleared via "SafeSport". Is SS as much of a joke as they appear?

 

[Debbie S]

"SafeSport" as we know and have discussed, is a U.S. org. There may be an equivalent in Germany, but it is not part of or connected to the U.S. org.

 

[Willin]

I am reposting from the GermanThread. So, the GermanSafeSport is doing nothing about this coach and now LSB is getting involved? I really am losing any faith in this whole "SafeSport" business. Known abusers of children that were put on suspension suddenly are taken off and their records are cleared via "SafeSport". Is SS as much of a joke as they appear?

Per Christine Brennan, SafeSport is handing out lifetime bans, but in the US the accused have a right to arbitration - which is outside of SafeSport's control. It is not SafeSport reducing suspensions but rather this independent arbitrator. So instead of getting mad at SafeSport, perhaps we should be asking why this arbitrator seems to downplay abuse?

 

[text_skate]

reposting from German thread:

It's not the German version of Safe Sport from US. Safe Sport in this case is the name of the concept, not a institutional entity. And I agree, the concept of safe sport from DEU has failed the skaters. DEU needs to improve their procedures as well as DOSB (they were accord with the findings as it looks like)

Here is the link to the concept safe sport by DEU: https://www.eislauf-union.de/die-deu/safesport
It's only about sexual abuse. They need to broaden their definition.

 

[ЭPiKUilyam]

Per Christine Brennan, SafeSport is handing out lifetime bans, but in the US the accused have a right to arbitration - which is outside of SafeSport's control. It is not SafeSport reducing suspensions but rather this independent arbitrator. So instead of getting mad at SafeSport, perhaps we should be asking why this arbitrator seems to downplay abuse?

Absolutely YES!!! It seems that in America if you have the money for a good lawyer, everything will be hushed and put under the rug. That's my feeling what is happening. America is very litigious.

 

[Judy]

Per Christine Brennan, SafeSport is handing out lifetime bans, but in the US the accused have a right to arbitration - which is outside of SafeSport's control. It is not SafeSport reducing suspensions but rather this independent arbitrator. So instead of getting mad at SafeSport, perhaps we should be asking why this arbitrator seems to downplay abuse?

Yes I listened to an interview with her explaining that. I agree with the role of arbitrator and was confused by this. Is it in court?

 

[overedge]

An arbitrator is not in court. It's a person who acts as an independent third party - independent from the accuser, the accused, and the organization. They're hired to review the decision made by SafeSport. They're looking to see whether the penalty that was awarded is justified by the evidence that was presented. And they have the power to order a new penalty if they disagree with the original decision.

Here's SafeSport's FAQ on arbitration:

https://uscenterforsafesport.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Arbitrations-FAQ_July-2019.pdf

 

[Tavi]

Per Christine Brennan, SafeSport is handing out lifetime bans, but in the US the accused have a right to arbitration - which is outside of SafeSport's control. It is not SafeSport reducing suspensions but rather this independent arbitrator. So instead of getting mad at SafeSport, perhaps we should be asking why this arbitrator seems to downplay abuse?

I can’t speak specifically about SafeSport, but when an appeals court or an arbitrator reverses a decision by an administrative body (like SafeSport) or a lower court, it’s often because the decision-maker’s findings aren’t sufficiently supported by the evidence or because the decision-maker or investigator failed to follow rules or proper procedures.

It’s really unfortunate, but sometimes an arbitrator (who is usually an attorney or retired judge) has no choice based on the evidence in the record and the rules (here, the SafeSport Code) they are supposed to apply.

Just a guess, but the fact that in several recent cases, SafeSport decisions / sanctions have either been reversed or reduced suggests to me that because SafeSport is underfunded, understaffed, and under pressure to show results, they may have sometimes rushed investigations or issued decisions prematurely. I really doubt that the arbitrators aren’t taking the charges seriously.

 

[MacMadame]

ust a guess, but the fact that in several recent cases, SafeSport decisions / sanctions have either been reversed or reduced suggests to me that because SafeSport is underfunded, understaffed, and under pressure to show results, they may have sometimes rushed investigations or issued decisions prematurely. I really doubt that the arbitrators aren’t taking the charges seriously.

I think it's entirely possible that both are true. As in sometimes SS didn't dot their i's and cross their t's. But also the arbitrators may not take these kinds of cases seriously as we've seen a lot of examples of that.

 

[Tavi]

I think it's entirely possible that both are true. As in sometimes SS didn't dot their i's and cross their t's. But also the arbitrators may not take these kinds of cases seriously as we've seen a lot of examples of that.

Hmm. While there are bad human beings in every profession, I find it kind of hard to imagine any arbitrator or other adjudicator who wouldn’t take a SafeSport charge - or any charge of sexual or child abuse - seriously in this day and age. This is especially true because SafeSport arbitrators are provided by JAMS, which is one of the top providers of alternate dispute resolution services in the country. Their neutrals are screened and highly credentialed. Many are retired judges.

Out of curiosity, I searched the JAMS website for SafeSport and found several neutrals whose bios list SafeSport arbitrations. Most are women. Several are retired judges. If you’re interested, you can find the information here:

Search | JAMS Mediation, Arbitration, ADR Services

JAMS is the largest private alternative dispute resolution (ADR) provider in the world. With its prestigious panel of neutrals, JAMS specializes in mediating and arbitrating complex, multi-party,...

www.jamsadr.com

ETA, you might also be interested in this overview of SafeSport arbitrations. Note that SafeSport (not the victim) is one of the two parties in arbitrations (the other is the accused), so they get to participate in selecting the arbitrator.

https://uscenterforsafesport.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Arbitrations-FAQ_July-2019.pdf

 

[Vagabond]

But also the arbitrators may not take these kinds of cases seriously as we've seen a lot of examples of that.

Have we?

I know that the arbitrator hearing matter regarding Richard Callaghan's abuse of Craig Maurizi lifted the lifetime ban, but he did so because of an evidentiary standard that applied at the time of the underlying conduct but would not have been applicable to recent conduct. The arbitrator appeared to take Maurizi's allegations very seriously.

An arbitrator determined a famed figure skating coach abused children. He lifted his lifetime ban anyway

A tranche of confidential documents reveal that investigators found that Callaghan had engaged in various forms of misconduct with both male and female skaters.

abcnews.go.com

 

[MacMadame]

If sexual abuse is taken so seriously, why do people who report say it's like they are abused again by the system? There is a lot of data showing this sort of behavior is not taken seriously and judges bend over backwards to give the benefit of the doubt to the perpetrator. Arbitrators are not immune from that. They are people who grew up in the system just like judges.