The U.S. Center for SafeSport (USCFSS) will begin publishing weekly news releases highlighting individuals placed in its disciplinary database. This is a step toward greater transparency for the maligned organization that is famous for its lack-of.
In a press release, USCFSS CEO Benita Fitzgerald Mosley said that “Knowledge is power and maintaining safe sport environments improves when information is as accessible as possible. By sharing weekly news updates of individuals who have been added to the Centralized Disciplinary Database, we hope to improve safeguarding through increased public awareness.”
The information has already been public, located in the “Central Disciplinary Database” published online. The new process will highlight individuals who have been added to that database.
The initial report included three names, none from aquatic sports. In addition, it provided an update on one case from USA Boxing that went to arbitration, with all violations and sanctions upheld.
The USCFSS stopped short of committing to releasing more details on the cases.
From the Release:
Procedural due process and the ability to arbitrate a decision are afforded to those accused of abuse and misconduct, and the Center relies on the preponderance of evidence standard in its decisions. As part of these weekly updates, the Center will also share the results of arbitration decisions in instances where a Respondent requests a hearing to challenge the Center’s findings and sanctions. Arbitration proceedings take place before an independent arbitrator whose decision is final. Review the SafeSport Code for further details on the Center’s arbitration process as well as the 2025 Annual Report.
Other than the information contained on the CDD, the Center cannot provide further detail on specific cases and does not comment to protect the identity of claimants and maintain the integrity of the confidential investigative process.
The USCFSS is a non-profit established in 2017 and funded primarily by allocations from the United States Congress. The center received a significant funding increase in 2023 to clear a backlog of about 1,200 open investigations. A year later, about 40% of that backlog had been resolved.
The center receives almost 10,000 reports a year, or almost 200 weekly, as of its latest annal report from 2025. They reported a decrease of reports of sexual abuse but an increase in reports of emotional and physical abuse. In total, reports were up 19.6% in 2025.
The Center works in conjunction with SafeSport programs operated by National Governing Bodies like USA Swimming.
Most reports to the Center do not result in a ruling by the Center of a violation or not. National Governing Bodies retain jurisdiction over many types of allegations, while The Center for SafeSport focuses primarily on cases of sexual misconduct, where they have exclusive jurisdiction. The Center also has discretionary jurisdiction in cases of non-sexual child abuse, emotional and physical misconduct, other criminal charges or dispositions, MAAP violations, or violations relating to abuse of process.
When the Center declines jurisdiction, that often sends cases back to NGBs to adjudicate, which often results in warnings or education rather than formal violations if the issues at hand are not considered serious or severe.
In some cases, the Center places the cases on hold, waiting for the individual to re-enter the Olympic Movement over which it has jurisdiction. Those are listed under “Jurisdictional Hold.”
Kind of random, but does anyone have any explanation for why individuals from USA Bowling seem to appear on this list so frequently? It seems massively over-represented as a sport for some reason.