Morgan Cipres charged in FL

[Yazmeen]

Olympic skater facing felony charge in Florida after allegedly sending lewd photos to 13-year-old

French figure skater Morgan Cipres allegedly sent a 13-year-old American girl two photos of his penis via Instagram.

www.yahoo.com

 

[BaileyCatts]

If he is in France, can they even do anything if he simply just never returns to the USA?

 

[Immortelle]

If he is in France, can they even do anything if he simply just never returns to the USA?

He’ll probably end up like Polanski.

 

[Coco]

Nevermind

 

[Frau Muller]

If he is in France, can they even do anything if he simply just never returns to the USA?

Maybe the “Impossible Missions Force” will take action and get him into the US? ...as in the old TV series Mission-Impossible...

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

His coaches need to be held fully responsible for what they did to the victim. Nothing will change until coaches, rink management, rink owners, and national federations are hit where it hurts most - IN THE POCKET. Hope they are all getting sued. So angry right now.

 

[UGG]

He is disgusting. Why would a grown @$$ adult ever think it’s ok to send d**k pics to a 7th grader

 

[GarrAargHrumph]

In case it's useful, there's also discussion of this in this thread.

 

[GarrAargHrumph]

If he is in France, can they even do anything if he simply just never returns to the USA?

Not unless he leaves France and enters a country with an extradition treaty with the US, and the US files an extradition request with that country.

 

[Vagabond]

While it would be better if Ciprès stood trial, his career prospects will be limited if he never leaves France.

 

[Braulio]

While it would be better if Ciprès stood trial, his career prospects will be limited if he never leaves France.

By his social media activity, he is not thinking about working in anything related with skating, he started a career in real estate

 

[Japanfan]

While it would be better if Ciprès stood trial, his career prospects will be limited if he never leaves France.

His career prospects already limited, probably non-existent. I'm sure there might be someone who wants to hire him, but they would only be a few. I would think that no one would want to invite him to a rink.

 

[Willin]

His career prospects already limited, probably non-existent. I'm sure there might be someone who wants to hire him, but they would only be a few. I would think that no one would want to invite him to a rink.

As much as I want to believe this, given that he's still in good standing with the French skating federation I don't doubt he'll be able to coach and do what he wants. There are plenty of abusers and people accused of abuse that get away with it professionally because they're liked by the powers that be. There's also plenty of desperate stage/rink parents that are happy to ignore accusations and well-substantiated ones at that if it means their kid will go far in the sport.

 

[misskarne]

The French Fed already announced he'd be working with young pair skaters. In other words, working with young girls the age of his victim, and working with impressionable young boys who look up to him. Two abhorrent scenarios for the price of one!

 

[BaileyCatts]

Were they planning on competing thru 2022 Olympics until this came to light, and then retired because it did? Or were they already planning to quit competing>

 

[antmanb]

Were they planning on competing thru 2022 Olympics until this came to light, and then retired because it did? Or were they already planning to quit competing>

I think officially they said they were taking it one season at a time, having previously suggested they'd retire after 2018. Then this news broke.

 

[clairecloutier]

At the start of last fall's season (2019-20), James/Cipres announced that they were still aiming for 2022 Olympics, but were skipping both the GP series and Worlds, supposedly in order to rest, conserve energy, and improve their pairs skating basics. (There was no real explanation for why they planned to compete at Euros but skip other big events. ??)

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Two months later, news of this incident broke:

Olympic figure skater, coaches being investigated for sexual abuse allegations

An underage figure skater has accused a French Olympian of sending her inappropriate photos, and alleges three coaches pressured her into being quiet.

www.usatoday.com

 

[MsZem]

Yes, Cipres ended not just his career but also Vanessa's, and ruined whatever chance France had of an Olympic team medal. Not to mention traumatizing a child. I really don't want to hear anything more from him or about him.

 

[Lemonade20]

Agreed, he’s a horrible person. I feel bad for his victims.

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

Anyone who's been around Cipres knows he is a narcissistic moron. To me the worst part of the situation was Zimmerman and Fontana bullying the girl's family. It's beyond the pale. Those two need to lose their credentials for good.

 

[bethy135]

Anyone who's been around Cipres knows he is a narcissistic moron. To me the worst part of the situation was Zimmerman and Fontana bullying the girl's family. It's beyond the pale. Those two need to lose their credential for good.

From unfortunate personal experience I feel there is a strong possibility that those two coaches did more long term harm to the girl and her family than even Cipres did. I would never presume to know how she personally feels and what her entire situation is of course. But for many youth in a situation like this the trauma of being threatened and shunned by their trusted coaches and their skating "family" would be nearly unbearable.

 

[Judy]

He is disgusting. Why would a grown @$$ adult ever think it’s ok to send d**k pics to a 7th grader

Oh you’d be horrified at what goes on. My brother-in-law was a detective with Ottawa police ((Canada) with this department . Sending a picture is nothing when you know what else these sickos are doing .. sick sick sick .

 

[aliceanne]

Anyone who's been around Cipres knows he is a narcissistic moron. To me the worst part of the situation was Zimmerman and Fontana bullying the girl's family. It's beyond the pale. Those two need to lose their credentials for good.

What about the coach who told the girls he would buy them a pizza if they sent the request to Cipres? He is the creepiest one of all to me.

Of course Cipres was stupid to oblige, and Zimmerman/Fontana should have done the right thing.

 

[Willin]

What about the coach who told the girls he would buy them a pizza if they sent the request to Cipres? He is the creepiest one of all to me.

Of course Cipres was stupid to oblige, and Zimmerman/Fontana should have done the right thing.

Yeah still waiting for the outrage at that coach. I get he's not as big of a name as Cipres, but he seems just as responsible for this. I guess his defense could be that he was trying to out Cipres as a creep, but if I remember the original article correctly he seemed to be actively involved in enabling Cipres. Much more involved that even Zimmerman and Fontana.

 

[Orm Irian]

What about the coach who told the girls he would buy them a pizza if they sent the request to Cipres? He is the creepiest one of all to me.

IIRC he's also under investigation by SafeSport as part of their overall inquiry.

 

[mjb52]

I think the part of the story involving that coach is so incredibly weird and confusing that people don't know what to say about it. There have unfortunately been a lot of these types of scandals in the news but I have never heard of anything quite like that. It almost goes without saying that he's a creep so maybe people sometimes forget to even mention it because he's not someone anyone has heard of and I think everyone just assumes he will face consequences, so it's not something people are going to think to come back to to ask about. It is worth following up on though, you're right - has anyone heard about whether there have been any consequences for this guy?

 

[starrynight]

How toxic does a rink culture have to be to end up with a coach convincing minors to invite another skater into abusive behaviour? So toxic.

 

[overedge]

In no way am I defending Zimmerman and Fontana, but both of them went through enough challenges in their own careers, that you'd think they would want to have a more supportive and positive culture in their own coaching. I can't express how disappointed and angry I am that not only did they let this kind of thing go on, but that they were also apparently active participants in covering it up.

 

[Orm Irian]

In no way am I defending Zimmerman and Fontana, but both of them went through enough challenges in their own careers, that you'd think they would want to have a more supportive and positive culture in their own coaching. I can't express how disappointed and angry I am that not only did they let this kind of thing go on, but that they were also apparently active participants in covering it up.

It's both amazing and reprehensible what being right on the verge of great success will do to some people's moral compasses. This happened just one year after J/C had their amazing breakthrough skate at Europeans, and in the same year that they started to become a force to be reckoned with in the GP; despite their crash at Euros in the Olympic year it was still Zimmerman and Fontana's chance to be seen as transformative coaches - even potentially superstar coaches - if they came back strong in Pyeongchang, with all the knock-on benefits for their careers as well as J/C's. It seems that was enough to override any sense of empathy or responsibility they might have gained from their own skating careers, not to mention any mandatory reporter training they did as part of becoming coaches.

 

[okokok777]

What about the coach who told the girls he would buy them a pizza if they sent the request to Cipres? He is the creepiest one of all to me.

Of course Cipres was stupid to oblige, and Zimmerman/Fontana should have done the right thing.

I think the part of the story involving that coach is so incredibly weird and confusing that people don't know what to say about it. There have unfortunately been a lot of these types of scandals in the news but I have never heard of anything quite like that. It almost goes without saying that he's a creep so maybe people sometimes forget to even mention it because he's not someone anyone has heard of and I think everyone just assumes he will face consequences, so it's not something people are going to think to come back to to ask about. It is worth following up on though, you're right - has anyone heard about whether there have been any consequences for this guy?

I'm going to try and expand upon this part of the story. My apologies for staying relatively vague - I try to err on the side of caution when discussing active cases. Like always, here is my disclaimer:

I want to preface what I say with a universal disclaimer: I completely understand that this is an internet forum and most people here don't know who I am IRL. Because of this, I am in no way offended if people don't believe what I'm saying - everyone has the right to their thoughts and opinions. I just wanted to try and bring a bit of clarity.

I've been, for lack of a better word, involved in this specific case for ~18 months now (from a "trying to get SafeSport/the authorities to look into this" standpoint). So I'll try to answer as many of your questions as possible without compromising any ongoing investigations.

I 100% agree on that part of the article being really weird & confusing.

According to witnesses and digital evidence, Morgan was coaching multiple teenage girls around the time that these events occurred (along with the then 13 year old survivor). It was all being done "under the table" due to the fact that he was not a USFS member (a few coaches expressed concerns to the rink's administrative staff since he was allegedly uninsured - I haven't been able to determine if he was an ISI member yet so I can't fully confirm this but multiple people at the rink believed that he was uninsured). Also, there are other allegations of Morgan's "inappropriate" conduct with these girls (some of which may become public through future news articles, lawsuit filings or criminal charges).

A few sources have told me that Vinny's request for the pictures came after he got wind of these allegations (specifically, the ones involving the then 13 year old survivor). Granted, these sources didn't witness the actual pizza conversation so I'm not exactly sure if that's the case.

Based on the evidence that I've been able to review, my best guesses for why Vinny asked for the photos are a) he didn't really believe the allegations were true and "jokingly" asked for the photos as proof, only to be surprised when the survivor produced them or b) he asked for the photos in order to confirm the allegations. However, he could've also been asking for the photos for other reasons (manipulation, grooming, harassment, etc.)

After Vinny received the photos (i.e. the video of the survivor opening up the photos in IG since Morgan sent them using the "view-once" function), he allegedly showed them to another coach affiliated with the rink. That coach allegedly told him that what Morgan was doing was wrong and that Vinny had to report him. Vinny then went to John & Silvia and then the events that have been publicly covered took place (the intimidation, threats, slut-shaming, etc.) His motivation for participating in the cover-up/intimidation/emotional abuse of the then 13 year old girl seems to have been fear of losing his own job. However, Vinny himself is the only person who can answer that question.

Regardless of what happened, I 100% believe that he needs to be held accountable for his actions. However, while he was the instigator for the photos that are discussed in the article, he wasn't the instigator for all of Morgan's alleged misconduct.