USA Swimming is named in the sexual abuse lawsuit against coach Joe Bernal

Former competitive swimmer Amanda Le accuses coach Joe Bernal of sexual abuse 15 years ago and claims that USA Swimming and other organizations failed to prevent it.

Le, who trained with Bernal from 2006 to 2010, filed a lawsuit against “the individuals and companies that allowed a known child molester to work as a youth swim coach, that supported him for decades with infrastructure, position and prestige, and that gave him full access to a never-ending cycle of young girls he could exploit,” the lawsuit says, according to CNN.

“Amanda Le was one of those girls.”

The 33-page lawsuit accuses Bernal of sexually abusing Le when she was a minor, starting training her when she was 13 and ending it when she was 18.

Bernal died in October 2022. His coaching career began when he built Fordham University’s men’s team into a power while also founding the school’s women’s swim team. He then became head coach at Harvard and was allowed to work as a coach to medalists on two U.S. Olympic teams in 1984 and 1988. David Berkoff And Bobby Hackett.

Bernal was inducted into the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) Hall of Fame in 2015 and also founded Bernal’s Gator Swim Club based in New England (BGSC-NE), where he coached Le.

In February 2016, Bernal was banned for life from USA Swimming for sexually abusing an unnamed “Athlete A,” who the lawsuit alleges was Le. Later that year, he was stripped of his place in the ASCA and Fordham Hall of Fame.

Bernal’s Gator Swim Club was renamed Gator Swim Club after his retirement in 2016.

“USA Swimming is deeply committed to the safety and well-being of all its members,” the organization’s spokesman said at the time. Scott Leightman said in a statement to The Boston Globe“The mission of the Safe Sport program is to raise awareness to reduce the risk of abuse in sport, and our organization does not tolerate any violations of our Code of Conduct.”

The lawsuit alleges that Le kissed her after training when she was 15 and Bernal was in his mid-60s, and that the sexual contact escalated in the years that followed.

“While in high school, Amanda began to experience panic attacks that she believed at the time were solely due to the stress of swimming. She knew she was afraid of doing poorly because she would be punished for it,” the lawsuit states. “Amanda also suffered the effects of the sexual abuse, although she was not aware of it at the time.”

The lawsuit alleges that Le slept in Bernal’s room on several team trips and was picked up by Bernal to skip school and go to his house for sex.

Le attended college from 2011 to 2014, and in her third year, Bernal impregnated her and paid for the abortion, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit goes on to say that Le’s mother found her diary, and although her parents showed it to another coach at BGSC, that coach did not contact law enforcement officials and “did nothing to protect Amanda.”

The lawsuit also alleges that USA Swimming “knew of complaints about Bernal’s inappropriate conduct toward underage swimmers” before Le began competitive swimming. It accuses Bernal, USA Swimming and other defendants of violating the Human Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

Bernal was already named in an August 2021 lawsuit in which Kimberly Stines accused him of a “five-year campaign of systematic emotional and sexual abuse” that began in 1976, according to CNN.

Le’s lawyer, Jon Littletold CNN that litigation in Le’s case is ongoing and a trial is expected sometime in late 2025 or early 2026. He also represented Stines and says the system failed her.

“The system has failed her and now she feels guilty that there is an Amanda Le,” said Little CNNadding that Le filed the lawsuit to show the children that they are not alone.

“Back then she felt alone, but not anymore.”