JUST WOW…! Check out this amazing thing Horse Network is doing to help bring light to the imbalance of power/abuse/sexual misconduct in our sport… We NEED to make a change for everyone involved in the sport and everyone who rides!
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Sadly I know what happened here, and it’s shades of the same thing Fellers and the other PNW trainer are accused of, with some other extenuating circumstances. Andrew took the suspension all the way to CAS and it must have been something procedural that got him off the hook. His very wonderful now-ex-wife divorced his sorry ass and didn’t look back, read into that what you will.
Ironically, he was one of the initial members of the committee that set up Safe Sport for USEF. Literally the fox in the hen house.
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The court says that Andrew was the one who the initiated divorce proceedings and from the minimal public records, it seems that he also tried to get child support dropped from the agreement, for whatever reason. Make of that what you will. Earlier, I thought he might still have some connection to his daughter, but upon closer look, he seems to have nothing whatsoever to do with her at this point and hasn’t for many years now. Whether that’s his choice or hers and her Mother’s, I couldn’t say.
Regardless of who actually filed the paperwork first, it’s a tragic story for all of the people who were in some way on the receiving end of his actions
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Thank you; Wanderlust
What is CAS?
I was pretty much lambasted on here for asking, if his position as a corporate attorney, might have had something to due with the minimal sanction and restoration of his membership?
Loopholes being something I imagine attorneys have more knowledge of than most laypeople do.
Hoping the victims find healing, peace and we can better identify/sanction perps to try to keep our friends and loved ones safe.
You were not “lambasted.” You asked, in the context of discussing the sanction, whether he was a lawyer. I asked why it mattered to you whether HE was an attorney or not.
Someone who is not himself/herself a lawyer can simply hire a lawyer to represent him/her. So it doesn’t matter whether the sanctioned party is personally a lawyer or not. Someone who wants legal representation in the process can have that representation. Virtually everyone involved in high profile sanction cases has been represented by counsel, it’s been discussed on this thread.
I don’t know why the fact that AT is a lawyer really matters, but yes it appears he is/was an in-house corporate lawyer (so not someone who, for a living himself handles these types of cases). He could have represented himself. He also may not have represented himself. Someone who is not themselves experienced in an area of the law typically hires someone else who IS experienced as counsel. AT may have or may not have hired representation. I’m still not sure why it matters in terms of understanding what happened in the matter. People can be represented in the process and it likely increases the odds of prevailing to have counsel. I am not sure BEING a lawyer one’s self matters as much as having a representative well-versed in the process.
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A more appropriate question to ask is “Did AT’s long-standing involvement with the USEA/USEF and Eventing at the highest levels play any part in the proceedings?”. The answer is not clear, though there are certainly points to consider. The USEF chimed in when they normally wouldn’t do such a thing and their statements were neutral, yet they chimed in nonetheless, and the USEF can and will - at the discretion of their leadership and with Safesport’s allowance - be peripherally involved in cases, to the point of arbitration and sentencing. This is why you have some questionable results in some cases, as we’ve seen in relation to other matters. As I said before, we don’t know what exactly happened in arbitration or the exact and clear circumstances of what he did and how far it went, but we obviously know he is guilty of inappropriate conduct involving a minor, because the arbitrator wouldn’t absolve him of any wrongdoing and AT probably had no evidence to present in his own favor, given the original sentencing of a lifetime ban. Anyway, there are things to think about in this and other cases.
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“Let the legal system deal with it.” 
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CAS = Court of Arbitration for Sport. https://www.tas-cas.org/en/general-information/frequently-asked-questions.html
If memory serves me correctly (and it may not), that is where Temkin’s appeal was escalated to for abitration.
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Safesport arbitrators are provided through JAMS (Judicial Arbitration & Mediation Services), a for-profit and for-hire arbitration service. CAS has nothing to do with Safesport and is focused on International matters of sport arbitration, which would involve the USEF and any particular athlete who incurred the wrath of the FEI.
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My jaw dropped when I read that article this morning. LE at the highest level did not take the victims’ claims seriously. Simply criminal.
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Thanks for sharing this news. I follow Rachel Denhollander on Twitter… she had a lot to say about this. It’s just heartbreaking and so discouraging.
Pretty pathetic that there is so little accountability for the FBI agents who dropped the ball on this case.
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I was unaware the FBI was involved in Safesport cases until the recent LN related news articles
Wow!
I was also unaware how seriously USEF/Safesport takes on bullying and also cyber bullying.
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Yesterday, he got bumped again by Safesport and is banned, for criminal charges and criminal charges involving a minor, subject to appeal based on the outcome of his criminal charges. He’s also been ordered to have no contact with minors.
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Not clear who you’re referring to? Fellers? Nasser? Temkin?
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Fellers. He’s also requested and been granted permission to leave the state to attend a wedding.
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Michigan State U. also had him around their athletes, and refused to believe it when gymnasts reported him. The coach of the gymnastics team was a big support of him, and wanted all of the team members to sign a big card for him, including a few who had reported him.
Here’s an article that might go behind the pay wall soon:
The interim president who resigned, kept a lot of her benefits after that too.
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Does anyone know the difference between ineligible when there is no end date vs banned?
