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FIRST ON FOX: U.S. Olympic fencer Margherita Guzzi Vincenti, alongside fellow competitive women’s fencers Emma Griffin and Patricia Hughes, have filed a class-action lawsuit against USA Fencing over an alleged incident at the 2025 North American Cup (NAC) in Kansas City, Missouri, in January.
Vincenti, Griffin and Hughes alleged USA Fencing knowingly permitted biological males to compete in women’s divisions while advertising events as female-only, including in competitions involving athletes under the age of 18.
“Because Defendant USFA’s youth and cadet policy authorized self-identification ‘without restriction’ and lacked any verification mechanism, biological males under 16 were permitted, and could have been expected, to compete in the women’s event,” the lawsuit alleged.
Margherita Guzzi Vincenti poses for a portrait during team USA Fencing media day at New York Athletic Club on May 21, 2024 in New York City. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
“Defendant USFA also does not disclose to members or participants whether transgender or non-binary athletes are entered in a given event, leaving female athletes and parents unable to make informed participation decisions.”
The lawsuit also alleged the organization did not enforce its own previous policy of only allowing males to compete in the women’s category after completing one year of testosterone-suppression treatment.
“On information and belief, Defendant USFA never implemented any system to monitor or verify compliance with this requirement. In practice, this lack of oversight allowed biological males to register for and compete in women’s events regardless of whether they had completed any hormone-suppression treatment,” the lawsuit alleges.
USA Fencing provided a statement to Fox News Digital responding to the lawsuit.
“USA Fencing is aware of the class‑action complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri on Oct. 29, and we strongly dispute its allegations. We will address this matter through the legal process and have no further comment at this time,” the statement read.
Guzzi, who competed for the Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics, said she joined the lawsuit to protect the integrity of her sport.
“Fencing has been my life since I was a child,” she said. “I have trained and competed with the expectation that women’s competitions are for women. It is about fairness and preserving opportunities for girls and women who dedicate their lives to competing on equal terms.”
Hughes, a veteran with 20 years of experience, expressed similar concern.
“I have seen women’s fencing grow from a niche sport to one where female athletes can thrive internationally,” Hughes said. “That progress only continues if fairness is enforced. The next generation of girls deserves the same level playing field that inspired us decades ago.”
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Griffin, a standout NCAA competitor, said young athletes deserve honesty and clarity from national governing bodies.
“We pay entry fees, travel across the country, and commit years to training,” Griffin said. “We deserve to know the rules and trust that women’s events are truly women’s events. It is about respect for athletes and transparency from the organizations that govern our sport.”
The suit argues that USA Fencing is an educational institution subject to Title IX, and therefore violated it by allowing males to compete in the girls’ and women’s category.
The suit seeks to argue this by alleging the organization listed itself as an educational service organization twice in 2020 and 2021 on its applications for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan during the COVID-19 pandemic, and because the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) receives direct federal funding, including taxpayer-derived appropriations, PPP forgivable loans, and funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The plaintiffs are being represented by Mahdavi, Bacon, Halfhill & Young PLLC and The Dhillon Law Group.
“Title IX was enacted to ensure equal athletic opportunities for women,” said attorney Karin Sweigart of The Dhillon Law Group, “Our clients are not asking for special treatment, only for the fairness and integrity that women’s sports have long promised.”
Attorney Charles Wang of Mahdavi Bacon and pro bono general counsel of Fair Fencing Organization said, “By allowing biological men to compete in a women’s event, USA Fencing violated Title IX by depriving women of their own sport that women had fought for over one hundred years to have.”
Attorney James Bacon added, “this case is about restoring trust, transparency, and compliance with federal law.”
Former USA Fencing board chair Damien Lehfeldt is also listed as a defendant. Fox News Digital has reached out to Lehfeldt for comment.
Lehfeldt was replaced as chair last weekend after he chose not to seek re-election.
In Lehfeldt’s announcement that he would not seek re-election, he cited “lawsuits” and “death threats” as a reason for his decision. Lehfeldt has been at the center of controversy for USA Fencing dating back to April when women’s fencer Stephanie Turner went viral for kneeling in protest of a transgender fencer, and was disqualified.
The incident prompted a federal subpoena of Lehfeldt to a congressional hearing to explain the organization’s policy on transgender athletes. Then, former Olympic coach and board member Andrey Geva and former Olympic fencer Abdel Salem sued Lehfeldt for allegedly making “false statements” at the hearing.
USA Fencing then changed its transgender participation policy in July to only permit female competitors to participate in the women’s category. The change was made to ensure compliance with the USOPC’s new athlete safety policy, which now cites President Donald Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order.
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Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens. Jackson’s reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN.com.
