You are totally incorrect in your assumption.
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It’s interesting. After you posted this comment someone privately noted to me some other recent “circus like” behavior, involving a certain prominent attorney affiliated with these folks, and many of the usual suspects.
At the risk of getting excoriated for shining a light on the parallel bizarro world of ugliness going on in terms of social media bullying in relation to big names in equestrian sport, their FB friendships with known banned pedophiles, and these ongoing SafeSport issues in equestrian sport and the hunter jumper community in particular… I’m going to call it out one more time.
In early May, Bonnie Navin “coincidentally” publicly posted an older black and white photo of a beautiful dapple grey hunter with a teenaged rider. Gorgeous horse, great equitation on the rider’s part. BN claims to have randomly found the photo somewhere online.
Well… it actually is a picture of a teenaged Anne K. That has a handwritten note in the lower right and corner which reads, “Jimmy, Thank you for teaching me to ride and show horses. Love always, Anne”
People can look at it themselves, and decide whether or not they believe that this particular signed photo was randomly just out somewhere on the internet, and BN just happened to come across it. Then, according to her own comments she apparently just happened to publicly post it on her own social media because she thought the horse was soooo lovely, and she didn’t know who the rider was and didn’t even NOTICE the handwritten note in the lower right hand corner until after posting it :rolleyes:.
Adding to the circus-like element is the particular group of people who decided to pop up out of the woodwork and “like” this photo of a teenaged AK with that handwritten note to Jimmy on it…
Jim Giorgio (SafeSport deemed him permanently ineligible after pleading guilty to sexually molesting a teenaged minor)
and
then, buried in the comments when someone actually notes “Anne K writing to Jimmy W…?!” - to which Bonnie replies “Oh wow, I just realized that is on there”
Guess who reacted to BN’s clever/coy claim of obliviousness with a laughing emoji?
Kathy Serio.
Anyway… just something that seemed to merit mentioning at this point on this thread, after someone else pointed it out to me. It’s all out there publicly on Facebook.
As I mentioned earlier, I hope everyone who needs representation and advice from an attorney has access to well qualified, professional legal counsel. In my opinion however, this online conduct is NOT professional for an attorney and the spouse of their client to engage in… especially when they are actually in the midst of an ongoing SafeSport investigation and awaiting a judgement on the complaint. It creates a negative impression to the casual eye of any random onlooker with even a small amount of background knowledge about Safe Sport issues and history in this particular discipline.
As the saying goes, play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
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If the world were a just place, these people would be shunned by all decent human beings, because they are actual trash.
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The fact that woman has a law degree baffles me. Honestly, her behavior is questionable AT BEST. She’s a bully and I would bet money at some point she gets disbarred.
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Thank you for this glorious GLORIOUS news!!!
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VHM, you have the wrong Cappy. Please edit your comment. WHEELER, GORDON “CAPPY” is on the SS list.
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Thanks so much for that heads up - you are correct and I edited immediately. Not a mistake I intended, but a serious one.
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@Max123 - do you mind editing the post of mine you quoted? I identified the wrong Cappy as on the SafeSport list, and just want to make sure no ones name is unfairly called out who ISN’T on that list. I went back and edited my original post
otherwise though - I agree with you. It’s pretty crazy conduct on the part of a lawyer. At some b point, it will catch up with her
Thanks
I think I need a translation for this - and I doubt that I am the only one…
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I see no evidence that anyone has weaponized SS to go after innocent professionals.
However, BN made a huge deal of KS’s diatribe of the injustice of TS being on the interim suspension list when she (BN) was trying to discredit SS in service of her defense of Rob Gage. While it’s not clear that massively publicizing TS’s two week interim suspension was remotely useful for the Rob Gage defense, I don’t see ANY basis for thinking that portraying TS as an innocent victim could possibly be useful for the Serios (given that the investigation was not closed).
Looks to me like BN “weaponized” Kathy Serio against SS and exploited one client for the (attempted) benefit of another.
With respect to the “disingenuousness” of posting an old picture of AK, complete with a note to JW, I doubt that cracks the top 10 of lies BN has told on FB. Some people think they can lie with impunity if the statement is one that cannot be objectively disproven (No one knows for sure that I was oblivious to the note when I posted this). True, no one can prove what was going on in her mind when she posted that. But given the robust pattern of behavior she has established, proving the exact truth or untruth of that particular statement hardly matters.
I wonder if and when BN will figure out that bullying the victims of the pedophiles SS goes after, or exploiting and weaponizing one client in an attempt to discredit SS, is not a successful strategy. Quite apart from the ethics or morality of these ploys, it just seems spectacularly unsuccessful.
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That photo of Anne K really shows that BN is a bad actor in all forms of the phrase.
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She needs to be reported to the Ethics Committee in whatever state her license to practice law is in.
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@YankeeDuchess - that’s an interesting take on BN “weaponizing” one client in order to attack SafeSport, after another well known client tragically took his own life in the face of an appeal that by all counts, he was almost certainly destined to lose. I hadn’t thought of it all from that angle…
But in all fairness, do you or anyone else remember the timing of Kathy’s long post last summer detailing their original SafeSport experience? Did she make that post immediately following RGs death? Or before? I can’t honestly remember the timing. And in all fairness, was that post something Kathy herself decided to put forward on social media, and entirely UNPROMPTED by BN? It seems like that is also possible, but I can’t remember anything with respect to the actual particulars of how that series of public FB stuff unfolded, in what order, etc.
I do firmly recollect, however, that as of last summer the Serios were publicly very grateful for BNs pro-bono assistance, and seemed confident that the original complaint at the heart of the initial SafeSport sanction was a closed matter.
I thought then, and think now, that a professional attorney advising either the Serios or RG, would have been telling all these people to NOT post anything on social media about this stuff. PERIOD.
Also, after these threads got active last year and attention was brought to the many many many hostile, victim blaming public posts from lifelong friends of RGs, as well as other people directly tied to certain people on the banned list, I was shocked then… and am still shocked now… that an attorney who was advising clients actively in the middle of ongoing SafeSport investigations would have told their clients that it was DEFINITELY in their best interests to ask all their friends who wanted to support them to ALSO refrain from making online comments. Other than a generic, “I’ve known so and so for ages, and support and stand by my friend.” Everyone saw comments aplenty that went WAY beyond that, however.
As for whether this picture of AK was a big deal or not… I totally understand your point about plausible deniability. And that this ugly little stunt might not crack the top 10 of unreal comments and behavior any NUMBER of people have engaged on in social media with respect to SafeSport issues over the course of the last year. However… it’s a mighty odd choice on the part of an ATTORNEY to publicly post this particular photo on her own personal social media account. In this instance, the person who pointed this picture out to me ALSO noted that a certain former girlfriend of Jimmy W routinely posts photos from their personal albums of the “good old days” online on her personal social media. SH was posting a string of old photos at the exact same time that this particular one “coincidentally” appeared on BNs account. It seems in the wake of the “victory” BN scored last year in terms of getting Jimmy’s name removed from the USEF SafeSport list, she has developed more of a friendship/connection to SH than she had previously. Understandable enough.
So… given that… multiple people can’t be blamed for wondering if SH did in fact actually pass this photo on to BN, and ask her to publicly post it. Because it seems quite likely that this PARTICULAR old personal photo with the handwritten note came directly from one of Jimmy Ws old albums.
I will utilize that whole plausible deniability tactic though, and say that I don’t know for sure what the underlying facts are with respect to the origins of this photo. But I do know others who have said that is indeed how BN got ahold of the image. Regardless of whether this is a big deal or just a cheap, childish stunt though… I think it’s fair to say that a lawyer specializing in representing clients with SafeSport disputes should know that online bullying of actual victims of childhood sexual assault by their own coach is against SafeSport rules. And that a lawyer shouldn’t actually be involved in the bullying on BEHALF of others.
It seems like this whole toxic mess has reached a truly ugly new low. And multiple folks have dropped any pretense of professionalism. And it’s awful for the sport.
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What shocks me and what I think a lot of people miss is it’s only about their friends. That Dressage trainer, there’s a thread in the Dressage forum that got bumped, who is straight up banned and I don’t see people crying about that. No one cares about the Argentine jumper trainer out of Greenwhich, CT.
In my opinion, AFE and the like would hold way more clout if they didn’t pick and choose. If they really are serious, why only focus on the hunter crowd of horse sports? Why not defend the Dressage trainer or the Jumper trainer? I mean those sports are actually in the Olympics.
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Honest question here. Please don’t assume I am siding with AFE or ISWG, because nothing could be further from the truth.
SafeSport’s original intent is to protect minors involved in sports from being preyed upon/bullied/otherwise abused by coaches/mentors/sponsors, etc. Correct?
So why do they get involved in cases where BOTH parties are legal adults? Yes, I get the point about power imbalances, and for the record I find such behavior unethical and reprehensible on the part of the one wielding the power. But this kind of exploitation isn’t limited to the equestrian realm or even athletics in general. It’s not against the law to date your employee or client, although many businesses do have firm rules prohibiting such.
Can anyone elaborate?
Other than a generic, “I’ve known so and so for ages, and support and stand by my friend.”
I certainly don’t intend to go beyond the above since I firmly agree with you, however, can I also generically point out that I have a little bit of an issue with discussion of all Safesport cases leading to comments about minors, even when the case discussed does not involve anyone who is, or was at the time of the alleged incident, a minor?
I think it’s really important to be clear that Safesport does not automatically equal underage victim or physical assault, no matter how one feels about it in general or any particular case.
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She was reported. FL Bar did nothing. And then she went on a crazy rampage blocking 75% of her Facebook “friends” and unbeknownst to her losing several misguided supporters and potential clients in the process. I am pro-Tommy (this is not a statement on these allegations, mind you), but I am staunchly anti-Bonnie Navin.
I absolutely understand your point, and agree in general.
Here’s the challenge that I have personally observed with SafeSport issues over the course of the last year, and trying to differentiate between cases involving something as awful as the exploitation and sexual abuse of minors, and other unprofessional problematic conduct between adults…
The folks who are at the heart of ISWG and AFE routinely mix and muddle these issues. The original experience Kathy posted about in relation to the SafeSport complaint and investigation experience that they went through was widely shared and used to discredit SafeSport in general. Folks who SPECIFICALLY wanted to defend JW, RG, and GM all brought up the long post by Kathy about Safe Sport as evidence that SafeSport was the problem.
If the Serios had said, “Hey… SafeSport is flawed, but please don’t use our experience to try and defend people who sexually abused minors”…
I wouldn’t be speaking up the way I have on these forums.
But that’s not what happened. They chose to side with all these people. Maybe because many are very influential, very big names in sport.
But once you come out and donate money to a group supporting folks who actually DID have sex with underage students while they were also the adult coach of the same students … well … you’ve lost me and most other parents who have kids participating in any number of sports. That sort of thing has ALWAYS been wrong. Everyone knows this.
This whole group of folks all seem to be currying favor with one another on some level. I don’t really know why. Maybe it’s just the nature of an insular sport. Maybe it’s the nature of people looking at the possibility of false SafeSport complaints as a potential threat to their small businesses… which I can intellectually understand.
But when it comes to child abusers… it’s pretty darn black and white. You are either with them, or you choose to stand apart. There are a NUMBER of professionals who did ride with some of the most notorious names on the banned list, but who have not been all over social media as part of ISWG, and AFE. They have not been publicly “laughing” at old photos with handwritten notes from a teenaged rider to her then coach, a much much older male coach who at that very time was allegedly sexually molesting that very teenager, and multiple other minor students of his.
I have a great deal of sympathy for how sad many of these folks must be at what they are seeing happening now as this stuff is coming out. And I can respect any of them wanting to remember the great lessons they got from some of these very coaches. But when some go one step further, and they cross over into posting ugly comments about people who were CHILDREN when the ugly stuff was occurring, and actually BLAMING the then CHILDREN?
I’m over it. That is awful and ugly, and downright shameful when certain people decide to do this just so they can make friends and cozy up to certain “powerful” names in the sport.
Hope that makes sense. It’s really sad and messy. But that’s what I see going on, over and over.
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Here’s the thing and to elaborate on what @CBoylen said. On this thread about TS, it is extremely important we don’t allude or think the suspension had anything to do with minors. It doesn’t. People on FB say that, hell on person asked if women have been banned. It’s like everyone’s google machine is broken. I digress.
TS is suspended pending an appeal for three years for fraternization (power imbalance) and it concerns an ADULT. I’m all for the horse world to have an HR department. It’s been long over due. However we must be clear about why people, and how people are suspended.
Side note, @CBoylen I’ve always enjoyed reading your posts here. Those older than when I’ve joined as well. Good to see you here again even though we didn’t really interact here.
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