Representatives for Parker Egbert have filed a lawsuit against Robert Griswold and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) in Colorado District Court.
The lawsuit, filed in the Colorado 4th Judicial District, El Paso County court on December 9, alleges Egbert was sexually abused by Griswold when they were teammates between 2021 and 2022, and that the USOPC ignored warnings about Griswold and failed to protect the plaintiff.
The filing comes just one month after a federal judge dismissed the case due to a lack of jurisdiction.
Full Case Summary (according to law.com):
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) was sued for sexual abuse and negligence on Dec. 9 in Colorado 4th Judicial District for El Paso County. The lawsuit, filed by Achieve Law Group on behalf of a Paralympic swimmer with autism and intellectual disabilities, alleges the plaintiff was sexually abused by teammate Robert Griswold between 2021 and 2022. The complaint USOPC ignored prior warnings about Griswold and failed to protect the plaintiff, allowing Griswold to act as his roommate and chaperone. The complaint alleges negligence, fraud and emotional distress against USOPC and assault-related claims against Griswold.
In November 2022, Egbert’s family filed a lawsuit accusing Griswold of grooming and abusing Egbert, who has an intellectual disability, and the USOPC and the U.S. Center for SafeSport were also accused of “extensive efforts to shield and protect Griswold, much to the detriment of Plaintiff and other team members.”
SafeSport was removed as a defendant in the case in March 2023, but the suit between Egbert and Griswold and the USOPC went on for three years until last month, when a federal judge in Colorado issued his final judgment in the case.
On Nov. 6, U.S. District Judge S. Kato Crews ruled the case closed due to the Court’s lack of diversity subject matter jurisdiction in the case.
The lack of subject matter jurisdiction in the case ultimately was due to the involvement of the USOPC, which both the USOPC and Griswold lobbied to be removed by the Court’s discretion to allow the case to move forward.
The USOPC’s status as a federally chartered corporation complicated the case, leading the judge to question jurisdiction late in the case. Now in state district court, Colorado has clear jurisdiction over state tort claims (negligence, fraud, emotional distress), assault claims, and conduct occurring in Colorado. Given this, the case will now likely be decided based on merit, whereas previously it was dismissed due to technical jurisdiction grounds.
CASE BACKGROUND
The original lawsuit in 2022 alleged that Griswold’s sexual assaults started in the summer of 2021 at the Paralympics in Tokyo, last July, and continued through August 2022 due to several failures of leadership. Egbert, 19 at the time, had “the mentality capacity of a five-year-old,” and was roommates with Griswold both in Tokyo and at the Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
The original lawsuit claimed that Griswold told Egbert, who has autism, that he “would get in trouble” and “police would come” if he told anyone what happened.
According to the complaint, the USOPC was aware of a “sheer number of complaints of abuse” against Griswold.
In 2020, a 16-year-old blind athlete allegedly reported to the USOPC that Griswold assaulted her in an elevator and later sent sexually suggestive text messages to her. That incident was reportedly investigated by SafeSport, but SafeSport only found Griswold’s misconduct to be “providing alcohol to a minor.”
In November 2023, just over one year after the case was filed, SwimSwam reported that Griswold had not been arrested “because of the lack of witnesses and there is not enough corroborating evidence presented to meet the standard of probable cause,” according to the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD).
In the wake of the lingering lawsuit, U.S. Para Swimming shut down its resident training program in Colorado Springs in October 2024, while the USOPC was also at risk of insurance coverage as its commercial general liability insurer argued “it should not be held liable for coverage in a separate civil case accusing the USOPC of negligence” in a June 2024 lawsuit.
Griswold is a two-time Paralympic champion, claiming gold in the men’s 100 backstroke S8 and the 100 butterfly S8 at the Tokyo Games in 2021. He also won bronze in the 100 back S8 at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio. He’s also a 15-time Para World Championship medalist, including winning six golds across the 2017, 2019 and 2022 championships.
He remains listed as having a “temporary suspension” with the U.S. Center for SafeSport, which was issued in August 2022.
If he has the mental capacity of a 5-year-old child, why was he at the USOPC without a licensed caregiver/aide? Other athletes should not have been responsible for him in the first place. The arrangement was destined to fail. Did the police investigate? What did they find? Why have there been no charges?
My question… Why has no one gone to the POLICE!
They have.
It took judge 3 years to decide on lack of jurisdiction!
And I thought cousin Eddie was the embarassment of the Griswold family!