The CEO and board chairman of badminton’s national governing body have been suspended by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for their roles in a case where an employee was allegedly advised not to report sexual abuse allegations against an influential figure in the sport and then was retaliated against when he did.
USA Badminton CEO Linda French was suspended for five years after what the U.S. Center for SafeSport described as a “thorough investigation” found “by a preponderance of the evidence” that she committed five violations of the SafeSport code including two counts of failing to report child abuse and/or sexual abuse as required by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, discouraging Alistair Casey, the national governing body’s SafeSport officer and chief of staff, from reporting that abuse and then firing Casey when he did, according to confidential SafeSport documents provided to the Southern California News Group.
USA Badminton’s board chairman Ken Wong received a two-year suspension for retaliating against Casey, according to confidential SafeSport documents.
French is believed to be the first national governing body CEO to be suspended by SafeSport since 2018.
The documents detail how French, a two-time Olympian and now a Florida-based immigration attorney, discouraged Casey from reporting allegations that two young athletes had been abused by two different coaches. The SafeSport documents also found that French allowed Jon Little, the federation’s general counsel, to make claimants’ names public in October 2021.
The report also said that Casey was fired at USA Badminton “due in part” to his reporting the abuse allegations to SafeSport.
French acknowledged that she spoke to Casey shortly before leaving for the Tokyo for the Olympic Games in July 2021 and admitted asking him “”if he wanted to wait 30 days until after the Olympics” to file a complaint with SafeSport about the sexual abuse allegations against a coach because she might run into the coach and his grandchildren at the Games, according to SafeSport documents.
She said she never encouraged Casey not to report the allegations but did admit to saying reporting “would stir up trouble,” according to the report.
The SafeSport rulings were made this week.
French and Wong did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Casey declined to comment.
Casey proceeded to report the allegations to SafeSport and the case and Little’s role attracted Congressional attention and criticism. Casey later alleged he was fired as retaliation for reporting the allegations. USA Badminton secretly paid Casey $1 million in a settlement.
Little, who recently represented former Cal swim coach Teri McKeever in her case with the U.S. Center for SafeSport, filed a defamation case against Casey in U.S. District Court in Indiana in September. Little did not represent French or Wong in their SafeSport cases.
“The bottom line is that Alistair Casey is being untruthful and it’s sad to see the way he is selfishly destroying lives and careers,” Little said in a phone interview Friday. “And the bottom line is that the only person who knew about these allegations was Alistair Casey and I look forward to adjudicating all this in a real court.”
Little said that the allegations were reported to law enforcement and that SafeSport closed the cases three weeks after Casey reported them.
“They never even bothered to look at the allegations,” Little said. “I’ve seen SafeSport screw up three criminal cases.”
Little said he and French revealed claimant names after receiving a Congressional subpoena.
SafeSport does not comment on specific cases.
“Accountability is core to culture change, and that’s what we are working toward every day at the U.S. Center for SafeSport. From grassroots to elite sport, we take all allegations of misconduct seriously and conduct thorough and fair investigations to hold those who violate the SafeSport Code accountable,” Ju’Riese Colon, SafeSport CEO said in a statement to SCNG.
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