Exposing Corruption in Youth Sports: RI Business Executive Turns Whistleblower and Author
GoLocalProv News Team
Exposing Corruption in Youth Sports: RI Business Executive Turns Whistleblower and Author
The former top-flight venture capitalist and business executive says he has seen firsthand the broken structure of youth sports.
He was the CEO of the parent company of Global Premier Soccer (GPS), one of the largest youth soccer organizations in the United States.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe company he ran also oversaw youth sports programs in other sports including hockey and lacrosse, but it is soccer where the greatest abuse and fraud has been discovered.
And, he is warning parents that youth sports are almost entirely unregulated and reeks of exploitation.
National Headlines - And Not Good News
In just the past year, two executives of GPS have been indicted and pleaded guilty to federal charges tied to an ongoing investigation by the Boston office of the U.S. Attorney’s office.
In February of this year, Justin Capell, 39, the former COO of GPS who lives in Southborough, Massachusetts, was charged and has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit visa fraud.
Specifically, it is alleged that Capell and his co-conspirators arranged to file fraudulent visa petitions on behalf of at least seven professional soccer teams in order to secure visas for GPS’s foreign coaching staff. GoLocal learned and reported that one of the seven soccer teams involved in the effort is New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s soccer team Sky Blue club.
Then, in May 2020, Gavin MacPhee, another former GPS employee, pleaded guilty to destroying records in connection with this investigation.
The charging statute provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.
Griffin has turned author and his new book The Lost Locker Room outlines how GPS violated immigration laws to bring coaches into the United States and profit. Some of the coaches were young and never got paid, and some are alleged sex offenders.
Griffin’s book digs deep into the corruption in youth soccer that directly links to visa fraud, alleged child molestation and is tied to issue at the women’s professional league where players have alleged sexual abuse by coaches.
He said there are two reasons he wrote the book and is working to reform the youth sports industry
“First, I want parents to understand this story so that they can properly evaluate the risks associated with participation in youth sports,” said Griffin who is emerging to be the nation's most credible and vocal critic of the youth sports industry.
“Number two, I want to raise awareness to the governing sanctioning bodies [of these sports] that there are gaps in the system control gaps that are allowing certain types of characters to perpetrate schemes that ultimately put young coaches, naive young coaches and certainly the athletes, the children at risk and that those governing bodies need to improve those controls to protect children,” said Griffin.
“I was shocked at how brazen and deliberate the fraudulent visa scheme was and how certain executives at GPS could work alongside us report to us and mislead and lie to us on a daily basis. I just may be naive but that for me was shocking when we went through and conducted a forensic investigation and looked at the documentation,” said Griffin.
Griffin said that while federal law enforcement has been vigilant, journalists have failed to look into these issues and are afraid to lose access.
“I am a little bit disappointed in how journalists who cover the sport of soccer — American journalists who come to sports soccer and some of the sanctioning bodies — have remained silent and have not conducted their own independent investigations or taken a public stance on this and i think some of the American soccer journalists are reluctant to give the case appropriate coverage because they're too aligned with the sport,” said Griffin.
More Needs to Be Done - Children Need to Be Protected
“We regulate daycare facilities, they are highly regulated but yet we don't regulate the youth sports and that that's where things need to change. Other countries have ministries of sports who oversee and provide safeguards. We don't have anything like that here, said Griffin.
His first book is titled The Front Row Seat, Greed and Corruption in a Youth Sports Company.