Scots Olympic coach who lost job after reporting child sex abuse paid $1m compensation

A TOP Scots athlete who had his employment terminated after reporting allegations of child sex abuse has received a $1million dollar pay-out from US badminton chiefs.

Ex-Team Scotland badminton star Alistair Casey, originally from Glasgow, coached US Olympians to the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Games and was USA Badminton’s SafeSport officer, the Olympic sexual misconduct watchdog.

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The 42-year-old had alleged in a dispute to the sports federation he was pressured not to report historical sexual abuse allegations by a prominent coach by USA Badminton CEO Linda French and their lawyer Jon Little.

Despite this, Mr Casey, who has lived in Los Angeles since 2011, filed the report and later alleged he was harassed and then fired from his role as the federation’s chief of staff for doing so.

Casey told Los Angeles Times, who reported on the story in 2021: “I knew it was going to be the end of my job, but there was no way I could keep quiet about it.”

The abuse allegations date back to around 2012 where a teen badminton player told a friend and fellow competitor that a high-profile US Badminton coach forced her to have sex.

No police report was filed at the time, but the decade-long allegations came to head during the preparation for the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

We can reveal, in a document seen by the Scottish Sun, USA Badminton officials were made aware of the coach at the centre of the allegations and a lawyer had debated whether to report his conduct to SafeSport at this time.

The papers also revealed he was reported for emotional abuse of female athletes at a tournament in June 2020, where officials said it would be “expensive” to ban him from the sport due to the coach being likely “to fight.”

The attorney who represented USA Badminton wrote: “this guy is going to be a problem in the future” and “if he hurts a kid in the future, we would get the pants sued by us civilly.”

The letter to US Badminton CEO Linda French and two others also discussed how the coach was banned from professional badminton in 2009 by the US Olympic Committee’s ombudsman John Rueger but was reinstalled when Mr Rueger left the committee.

A source told the Scottish Sun: “This email showed those in charge were aware of the alleged abuse allegations but chose to do nothing.

“It’s only a matter of time before this becomes a criminal matter.”

The terms of Mr Casey’s million dollar settlement are “strictly confidential” but US media outlet ESPN reports it obtained a signed copy dated Jan 4 and 5, 2023 stating the agreement “does not constitute an admission of liability.”

It was reached “solely for the purpose of resolving any and all controversies and disputes.”

As the news of Mr Casey’s settlement broke, tennis ace Martina Navratilova shared her support in a scathing tweet directed at the sports federation.

She wrote: “I am not sure what is worse – the actual abuse or all the enablers who allow it to continue and thus create more abuse.

“Throw the book at the lot… the protecting the institution mentality has to go.”

Alistair Casey was approached by the Scottish Sun but declined to comment.

USA Badminton was approached for comment.

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