Olympic figure skater, coaches being investigated for allegations | Page 18 | Golden Skate

Olympic figure skater, coaches being investigated for allegations

Casual

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 26, 2018
Men are so dumb. It's beyond stupid to be so much in love with your penis as to think any *adult* woman would appreciate an unsolicited dick-pic in her inbox. But so send one to a 13 year old?

At least Eliot Spitzer didn't target kids. Killed his career and reputation anyway.

I'm very sad. James/Cipres were (are) my favorite pair, and I still think they were robbed last year. So sad we had to find out this about him. If he did it (if he was the one who send the pic from his account) - he's done.
 

DizzyFrenchie

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 9, 2019
I just mean they didn't give the information USA Today gave. They didn't give their source either, if I remember well.
 

Sugar Coated

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 20, 2018
Men are so dumb. It's beyond stupid to be so much in love with your penis as to think any *adult* woman would appreciate an unsolicited dick-pic in her inbox. But so send one to a 13 year old?

At least Eliot Spitzer didn't target kids. Killed his career and reputation anyway.

I'm very sad. James/Cipres were (are) my favorite pair, and I still think they were robbed last year. So sad we had to find out this about him. If he did it (if he was the one who send the pic from his account) - he's done.

Prostitution is illegal in New York. That’s what killed Spitzer’s career and reputation.
 

CoyoteChris

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 4, 2004
I just can't understand. Another coach asked two girls to ask Morgan to send those photos and he did?

I am with you...dont have time to read everything here but here are the words.
"Vinny Dispenza, another coach at the AdventHealth Center Ice rink, allegedly told the girl and another underage girl, whose family could not be reached for comment, to message Cipres asking him to send the photos to the girls in exchange for the promise of a pizza from Dispenza."

It is unclear to me how old these two underage girls were 2 years ago. The voluntary testemony of the two girls coupled with the digital proof means at least some will swing....how many is unclear. I must go shower now as I feel dirty. No need to repeat the emails from a Certain Canadian Pairs skater turned coach to an underaged skater and how it effected his coaching life. The point is that this current incident does not live in a vaccumm. :disapp:

Having said that, some might say that teens now live in a world of sexting, I am told by the media. But this is way beyond that behavior, IMHO.. Still, all we really know comes from one newspaper article. Let the investigation go forth. I am glad I am not one of those assigned to the task.
 

Eleanor

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 23, 2018
I am with you...dont have time to read everything here but here are the words.
"Vinny Dispenza, another coach at the AdventHealth Center Ice rink, allegedly told the girl and another underage girl, whose family could not be reached for comment, to message Cipres asking him to send the photos to the girls in exchange for the promise of a pizza from Dispenza."

It is unclear to me how old these two underage girls were 2 years ago. The voluntary testemony of the two girls coupled with the digital proof means at least some will swing....how many is unclear. I must go shower now as I feel dirty. No need to repeat the emails from a Certain Canadian Pairs skater turned coach to an underaged skater and how it effected his coaching life. The point is that this current incident does not live in a vaccumm. :disapp:

Having said that, some might say that teens now live in a world of sexting, I am told by the media. But this is way beyond that behavior, IMHO.. Still, all we really know comes from one newspaper article. Let the investigation go forth. I am glad I am not one of those assigned to the task.

This is so so so weird. Why would anybody do that ? I just can't understand :scratch3:. This is sick and I wonder if this is the first time he pulled something like this. Perharps he did, with another skater and it did not work. Sadly, Morgan seems to have been either incredibly stupid or pervy and went through with it. And there we go, discussing another sexual scandal involving a minor. Great. Just makes me wonder how you can be sure your kid is safe. It's just so depressing. And what's the deal with d... pics anyway ? What is wrong with people ?
Anyway, there is probably more to it. I hope there won't be anymore victims and that this was just a one time incident. I also hope we will get to the bottom of this and know who is responsible and of what. And I hope innocents won't be drag into this mess (like Vanessa whose name was not in the article or poor Gabby).
I really hope online users will stop trying to get anything from skaters who knew or were friends with Morgan. I remember former gymnasts supporting Nassar at the very beginning of the case. The backlash was intense once more victims came forward. It's better if the skating ommunity just lets the investigation go on and stay silent.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
So you obviously didnt read what I said or get my point about supporting the victim. There are no "excuses" offered up here. I believe this girl to be a victim of abuse. It could be Cipres (the matter discussed in the article) OR someone else OR even BOTH or multiple abusers. I have no interest in defending an abuser - my point is that the allegation *in and of itself* is a sign of abuse and NEEDS to be taken seriously as it is a sign of abuse, whether by him or someone else. This girl needs support NO MATTER WHAT and we should not shame her if there turns out to be more to the story. You don't know if another predator is manipulating her and that is **JUST AS BAD**.

I myself have not seen any evidence so I don't know if it is one or multiple predators and who they all are. It doesnt matter though, SUPPORT THE VICTIM. Any and all reaponsible parties (including anyone who failed to report) deserve to rot in Hell.

Do not manipulate this into saying I am making excuses for anyone because I am not.

Thank you. I think several of us are taking a similar approach but it is being served by some as something very very different.
 

elbkup

Power without conscience is a savage weapon
Medalist
Joined
Mar 3, 2015
Country
United-States
I am truly amazed reading through the posts here.... stories shared of abuse survived, courageousness, strength and fortitude of spirit and determination to move forward, find joy, meaning, and purpose in life despite adversities. .. if there is one good thing to come from all this sadness and pain it is that we are all talking to each other, sharing experiences, refusing to live in isolation.... this world can be a tough old place but can also be a bit of heaven if we let it. Justice does not always work the way we would like but it comes in the end... as for Morgan et al, one poor decision after another compounded to create this nightmare.. hopefully it can be resolved without further harm .... the whole thing breaks my heart, truly..
 

CoyoteChris

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 4, 2004
I am truly amazed reading through the posts here.... stories shared of abuse survived, courageousness, strength and fortitude of spirit and determination to move forward, find joy, meaning, and purpose in life despite adversities. .. if there is one good thing to come from all this sadness and pain it is that we are all talking to each other, sharing experiences, refusing to live in isolation.... this world can be a tough old place but can also be a bit of heaven if we let it. Justice does not always work the way we would like but it comes in the end... as for Morgan et al, one poor decision after another compounded to create this nightmare.. hopefully it can be resolved without further harm .... the whole thing breaks my heart, truly..

I agree that this whole mess is a heart breaker, no matter which way it plays out. But I find myself carried away with this story and we should not accept any or all of it as truth at this time. If there really is a digital trail of the girls requesting sexual images from the skater and there is a digital trail of him providing them and they are indeed from his body, well, that's pretty hard to question. But the rest of it is subject to other proofs and the rest of the story could be written quite differently. What if the second girl refuses to give a statement and John, Silvia and Vinny all demand and pass law enforcement grade polygraph tests? Look, I dont know who is guilty here and who is not at this point. All we have is a news story. but I will share this.
I have worked in law enforcement for 30 years....I have seen some police officers do some bad things, get caught, and terminated , maybe charged.
But one trooper I worked with stopped two young ladies one night. The young ladies went to a police station after a number of hours and complained that the trooper told them if they lifted their blouses, he wouldnt issue a speeding ticket. They were emotionally distrought. The trooper was put on admin leave while the investigation went forward.
Luckily for the trooper, the two ladies went to a cafe after the traffic stop and were caught up on a security cam laughing and cutting up for a half hour before going to the police station. There were no charges and no disipline by internal affairs.

But those girls put the trooper and his family through hell, just like the young girl in"Attonment" put her sister and her lover through hell.

I am not sayin' there arent guilty adults here....I am saying lets see the evidence if an organization is gonna wreck someone's life. Some lives need to be wrecked to protect the innocent.
(as an aside, I wonder if someday someone is going to sue "safesport" so that the organization will have to make public their proof and pay out big bucks for wrecking someone's life, whether that life deserved to be wrecked or not?)

If the girl's story is true, then by all means with that digital proof, bring in the police.
 

TontoK

Hot Tonto
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Country
United-States
In this age of Instagram, Snapchat, TitTok, no child is unaware of these things anymore. Pre-teen children on social media fall into a cesspool of online paedophilia and child sex predation. Children boast about the number of followers, but probably don't know nor care about the fact that the majority of likes to their bikini photos from summer holiday are from male perverts from all over the world, with a huge predominance of certain cultures. Even then, parents and teachers should know about this, educate, warn and prevent. But children are generally curious and few parents actually do set up parental monitoring on their children's smartphones.

Can you please keep us informed on how the French federation, French domestic press and population responds to these allegations? Cipres and James are booked for some shows over the Christmas holidays after all.

Tonight my wife told me about some piece of investigative journalism she had read. A team set up a fake Instagram account for a child (using an adult who had doctored photos designed to make her look like pre-teen ---- no children actually involved). Within an hour, all sorts of filth had been lobbed towards the girl. Propositions, invites to send photos, unsolicited photos sent... terrible stuff. I really had no idea that there is a thriving child-predation presence on these social media sites. It is shocking.
 

saturdaysun

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 13, 2018
The fact that people will dig through a 30-year history to find one instance of where someone lied about a sexual assault just to cast doubt on what every other victim goes through is heartbreaking. This is what girls and women are up against when they have to make the decision to speak up. God forbid a famous white man might be uncomfortable or inconvenienced for a bit while serious allegations against him are being investigated. I'm sure Cipres appreciates all the free legal work some people are breathlessly putting in on his behalf though.
 

Eleanor

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 23, 2018
The fact that people will dig through a 30-year history to find one instance of where someone lied about a sexual assault just to cast doubt on what every other victim goes through is heartbreaking. This is what girls and women are up against when they have to make the decision to speak up. God forbid a famous white man might be uncomfortable or inconvenienced for a bit while serious allegations against him are being investigated. I'm sure Cipres appreciates all the free legal work some people are breathlessly putting in on his behalf though.

I have mixed feelings about this statement.
We can all agree that making the victim feel free and not ashamed to speak up is crucial. For far too long, victims of sexual assaults were shamed, not believed, outcasted, mocked, blamed or not trusted. It lead many of these victims to actually believe they were to blame, or they deserved it and not press charges in the end. I personally find that absolutely revolting (having someone really close to me who was mocked by the police when she came to press charges).
BUT, it's only making things more difficult if we start not taking into consideration that someone might be innocent. However revolting that might be, this is the pillar of the justice system, and that pillar protects everybody. Justice needs to be served equally and stricly according to the law. And the law says that you are innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around. We can't alienate half of the world population by accusing them of all the wrongs and go on witch hunts everytime we hear of another sexual scandal.
I know it's, again, a lot to ask to women: trust the system, fight, speak up again and again, face diffamation and lies. We always have to prove ourselves, no matter what ! But we can't have the privilege of just being trusted. It's already very obvious some men are strongly turning their backs on us and complaining that feminazis and feminist are everywhere, in positions of power, useless complotist theory blah blah. We should not give arguments to these twats otherwise it'll backlash on women's right once more.
However, if the justice can't do anything, I am all for an alternative anhiliation of the monster (ala Polanski) and if social media, protests and boycott can serve moral justice, than so be it.
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
God forbid a famous white man might be uncomfortable or inconvenienced for a bit while serious allegations against him are being investigated.

I don't know what his race has to do with anything. Celebrities of all backgrounds get special treatment, at least here in the US.

The particular problem here is that figure skaters have a relatively short career. Imagine if someone had to sit out for 18 months during an investigation; skaters like Baiul, Lipinski and Zagitova achieved everything that built their legacy in a shorter timeframe than that. For me, to take such a step would require very damning evidence of wrongdoing. That may be the case here, but we really haven't gotten both sides of the story yet.
 

aname

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 4, 2018
The particular problem here is that figure skaters have a relatively short career. Imagine if someone had to sit out for 18 months during an investigation; skaters like Baiul, Lipinski and Zagitova achieved everything that built their legacy in a shorter timeframe than that. For me, to take such a step would require very damning evidence of wrongdoing. That may be the case here, but we really haven't gotten both sides of the story yet.
Have there been any figure skaters who have had to sit out during an SafeSport investigation? Any examples from other sports you're thinking of? Do you think that SafeSport doesn't require "damning evidence of wrongdoing" before they hand out temporary bans? What makes you think that?

According to SS itself, temporary suspensions during investigations are issued in 2% of the cases, yet so many commenters here and elsewhere like to pretend that SS bans people left and right based on hearsay... :sarcasm:

6. Temporary measures, like temporary suspensions, are issued rarely.
The center occasionally employs temporary measures against a respondent, like a temporary suspension or a no-contact order, before the investigation is complete. They use a three-pronged analysis to determine whether to enact a temporary measure, looking at the severity of allegations, the sufficiency of evidence, and potential risk of continued unrestricted participation. Temporary measures are levied in 2% of cases.

We don’t issue those willy nilly,” said Henry. “We understand it affects people’s lives and jobs."
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
Have there been any figure skaters who have had to sit out during an SafeSport investigation? Any examples from other sports you're thinking of? Do you think that SafeSport doesn't require "damning evidence of wrongdoing" before they hand out temporary bans? What makes you think that?

According to SS itself, temporary suspensions during investigations are issued in 2% of the cases, yet so many commenters here and elsewhere like to pretend that SS bans people left and right based on hearsay... :sarcasm:

I am not sure SafeSport has much power if any over Morgan Cipres except maybe training facility as he is a French Skating Federation member/skater. Perhaps some control over coaches (including Silvia, Jon and Vinny.)

I know we should waiat and we shouldn't jump to conclusion - but reading theses post we do and are.

Yes, I am still flabbergasted if true what Vinny did and why? My guess if this is true that Vinny promised the girl(s) pizza to ask for the photo from Morgan is that it was a bad, poor taste p rank that no one thought through. Get two young girls to ask for a photo of Morgan's penis. I think some people are disappointed shocked if it is true Morgan sent the photo that he had such photos on his phone
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
Have there been any figure skaters who have had to sit out during an SafeSport investigation? Any examples from other sports you're thinking of? Do you think that SafeSport doesn't require "damning evidence of wrongdoing" before they hand out temporary bans? What makes you think that?

We're not talking about SafeSport, since I don't think they can ban Cipres anyway. My statement is to those proposing that athletes sit out pending an investigation when an accusation is made, before both sides have had an opportunity to explain what happened. Yes, special circumstances (i.e. continued threat of sexual assault, safety of children, etc) require more decisive, immediate action. That could be the case here. But many people have already come to conclusions here (the two men were grooming young skaters, Sylvia issued threats to protect the team she coached when she had a duty to report what happened, etc.). The allegations all may be true, or possibly only some may be true. Four reputations have been tarnished and, if what we read in USA Today is true, they deserve to be. But I'd like to hear both sides.
 

Merelhyn

Rinkside
Joined
Apr 12, 2017
I hoped that the French Federation would react in a better way but I'm actually not surprised it went down that way (I guess us French people are getting accustomed of being let down by the federation ><). Morgan is a member of the federal council of the FFSG, so I guess this was predictable but so disappointing.
 

Edwin

СделаноВХрустальном!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
French fed just made a press release (in english and in french) :
https://ffsg.org/communique-de-presse-article-usa-today-10-12-19/
I'm just speechless.

It was to be expected, protecting their merited athlete.

" Without wishing to excuse any act should it turn out to be true ", WTF, but could be lost in translation.

Has France even an equivalent program to SafeSport in action?

So, now what about this Vinny character and the efforts to intimidate the girls and hush it all up? This is probably outside of SafeSport's capacity, and I doubt there is sufficient proof to start a case in criminal court by the representatives of the girl.
 
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