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US Olympian and other fencers file class-action lawsuit against USA Fencing for alleged trans athlete incident
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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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Dusty May talks Michigan basketball after 28-point win over Villanova
Dusty May talks Michigan basketball after 28-point win over Villanova on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025.
Michigan basketball’s first loss of the 2025-26 season – a 91-88 thriller on Saturday, Jan. 10 – was likely a surprise to most.
But U-M players and and coaches saw the seeds planted for the result over the past two weeks, with four consecutive games without the Wolverines feeling like they’d played up to their standard.
“The right team won,” Dusty May said after his team’s first loss.
Michigan led by 14 with 7:38 left in the first half, but let Wisconsin back into the game with a 20-7 run going into halftime. The run included three 3-pointers, part of the Badgers’ season-high 15 3s.
“Give Wisconsin credit,” May continued. “They came in here, took a punch early, they responded and went in at halftime with positive momentum. They came out in the second half and knocked us on our heels a little bit.
“They made plays; our plan, our coaching, our playing wasn’t up to our standard.”
It was similar to U-M’s game earlier in the week, when the Wolverines allowed Penn State to go on a 12-0 second-half run before escaping with a 74-72 victory in Happy Valley.
At Crisler Center, however, the bill came due for the Wolverines not going hard in practice – where U-M had done the work behind its 14-0 start to the season.
“To be honest, the only thing I’m disappointed in is when we started playing, competing at a high level, it looked different,” May said. “We can’t be a team, with what we’re playing for, that has two different levels of intensity.
“That’s what happened … but I don’t want to take anything away from Wisconsin. They came in here, they took it.”
‘They exposed some things’
One of Michigan’s few flaws is in dealing with stretch bigs. That’s especially apparent now after freshman Aleksas Bieliauskas drilled five 3-pointers, including four in less than three minutes of the second half.
Aday Mara is a fantastic rim protector, but he’s not built to move out to the arc; when bigs who can shoot are able to pull him away from the basket, it’s a problem.
“We changed our coverages, changed our personnel, we didn’t do a good enough job,” May said. “We worked three days on that. … We knew it was coming, you know it’s coming … When they make the first couple, there’s such an overreaction.
“They exposed some things with our plan and our team that we thought were going to be issues this year,”
The Wolverines began sticking the Badgers harder on the perimeter, fighting over screens instead of going under them. The change slowed Wisconsin’s 3-point shooting – the Badgers closed the game at just 3-for-10 beyond the arc after making 12 of their first 23 – but it also allowed more dribble-drive penetration, mostly by Nick Boyd.
He scored 22 against U-M and May, his coach at Florida Atlantic. That was second only to Wisconsin’s John Blackwell, who had 26 points – the third double-digit scoring game in four tries by the Birmingham Brother Rice alumnus against the school that passed on him.
“They did a good job of exploiting the mismatches and finding a way to get open,” said Nimari Burnett, who scored 10. “Something we’ll look at in film –we can take this lesson and apply it to other games.”
‘Processes have to improve’
Michigan solid on offense, at least, topping 80 points for the 13th time in 15 games.
Elliot Cadeau – who sat much of the first half in foul trouble – frequently thrived in one-on-one situations en route to 19 points, his second-best total this season. Morez Johnson Jr. missed just one shot and finished with 18 points.
But for the fourth game in a row, U-M shot under 33% on 3s, going 8-for-25 (32%) against Wisconsin.
“We’ve got to find some solutions to get better shots,” May said.
Shooting comes and goes, as May and Co. have tried to point out. Effort should not, though.
But on Saturday, Wisconsin got more second-chance points (15-8) and was virtually even in rebounding – U-M finished with a 32-30 edge, but Wisconsin prevailed, 15-11, in the second half.
Michigan won its first 14 games of the season in large part because of superior talent. While that’s a prerequisite for a deep March run, the grind behind the scenes is every bit as important.
Of Michigan’s three days of prep from Tuesday-Saturday, Cadeau and May said, only one was acceptable.
“Our processes have to improve, our practice habits, our day-to-day habits have to be at a championship level,” May said. “Or we’re simply going to rely on the other team not playing up to their standard, or our talent. That’s not a real healthy way to get through the Big Ten season.”
The Penn State win offered solace that when the going got tough, the Wolverines would find a way. Faltering against Wisconsin wiped away that illusion.
Michigan’s goals – a Big Ten title, a March Madness run – are all still attainable. But only if U-M feels this sting and plays with the same desire opponents are now bringing against the Wolverines, night in and night out.
Even in practice.
“It’s like a smack in our face,” Burnett said. “No team is going to go undefeated – obviously, we hoped to do it – but like I said, just need to learn from it.”
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
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FIRST ON FOX: ICE officials on Saturday released a shocking list of the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal immigrants arrested during their recent surge in the sanctuary state of Minnesota, including child rapists and nearly a dozen killers.
ICE told Fox News the criminal illegal immigrants were roaming freely in Minnesota prior to their recent arrest, and that they are the type of people Democratic politicians and activists are referring to as their “neighbors,” as they attempt to interfere with ICE.
“Regardless of staged political theatrics, ICE is going to continue to arrest the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Minnesota and elsewhere,” ICE director Todd M. Lyons wrote in a statement. “Some of these criminal aliens have had final orders of removal for 30 years, but they’ve been free to terrorize Minnesotans.”
Anti-immigration enforcement agitators clash with federal law enforcement outside an ICE facility in Minneapolis, Minn. (Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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“ICE’s arrests prevent recidivism and make communities safer, but it feels like local politicians want to ignore that part and drum up discontent rather than protect their own constituents,” he continued.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reacted to the arrests on X Saturday, calling the convicts “sick people.”
“This is why we have ICE Agents,” Leavitt wrote in the post. “May God Bless them for their thankless work to protect American communities from these sick people.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted a photo of a plane on X Saturday captioned, “Lawbreakers going wheels up in Minneapolis.”
Some of the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal immigrants arrested in Minnesota include:
Sriudorn Phaivan, a Laotian illegal immigrant, was convicted of strong-arm sodomy of a boy and strong-arm sodomy of a girl. (ICE)
Sriudorn Phaivan
Sriudorn Phaivan, a Laotian illegal immigrant, was convicted of strong-arm sodomy of a boy and strong-arm sodomy of a girl, another aggravated sex offense, nine counts of larceny, unauthorized use of a vehicle, four counts of fraud, vehicle theft, two counts of drug possession, obstructing justice, possession of stolen property, receiving stolen property, burglary and check forgery.
He also has pending charges for two counts of receiving stolen property, flight to avoid prosecution or confinement and burglary.
Phaivan has had a deportation order since 2018.
Tou Vang, a Laotian illegal immigrant, was convicted of sexual assault and sodomy of a girl under the age of 13, and procuring a child for prostitution. (ICE)
Tou Vang
Tou Vang, a Laotian illegal immigrant, was convicted of sexual assault and sodomy of a girl under the age of 13, and procuring a child for prostitution.
Vang has had a deportation order since 2006.
Chong Vue, a Laotian illegal immigrant, was convicted of the strong-arm rape of a 12-year-old girl, and kidnapping a child with intent to sexually assault her. (ICE)
Chong Vue
Chong Vue, a Laotian illegal immigrant, was convicted of the strong-arm rape of a 12-year-old girl, and kidnapping a child with intent to sexually assault her.
Vue has had a deportation order since 2004.
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Ge Yang, a Laotian illegal immigrant, was convicted of strong-arm rape, aggravated assault with a weapon, and strangulation. (ICE)
Ge Yang
Ge Yang, a Laotian illegal immigrant, was convicted of strong-arm rape, aggravated assault with a weapon, and strangulation.
Yang has had a deportation order since 2012.
Pao Choua Xiong, a Laotian illegal immigrant, was convicted of rape and child fondling. (ICE)
Pao Choua Xiong
Pao Choua Xiong, a Laotian illegal immigrant, was convicted of rape and child fondling.
Xiong has had a deportation order since 2003.
Kou Lor, a Laotian illegal immigrant, was convicted of rape, rape with a weapon, and sexual assault. (ICE)
Kou Lor
Kou Lor, a Laotian illegal immigrant, was convicted of rape, rape with a weapon, and sexual assault.
Lor has had a deportation order since 1996.
Hernan Cortes-Valencia, a criminal illegal immigrant from Mexico, was ordered to leave the country in 2016 and has been convicted of sexual assault against a child, sexual assault-carnal abuse and four DUIs. (ICE)
Hernan Cortes-Valencia
Hernan Cortes-Valencia, a Mexican illegal immigrant, was convicted of sexual assault of a child and DUI.
Cortes-Valencia has had a deportation order since 2016.
Abdirashid Adosh Elmi, a Somalian illegal immigrant, was convicted of homicide. (ICE)
Abdirashid Adosh Elmi
Abdirashid Adosh Elmi, a Somalian illegal immigrant, was convicted of homicide.
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Gilberto Salguero Landaverde, a criminal illegal immigrant from El Salvador, has been convicted of three counts of homicide. (ICE)
Gilberto Salguero Landaverde
Gilberto Salguero Landaverde, a Salvadoran illegal immigrant, was convicted of three counts of homicide.
Landaverde has had a deportation order since June 2025.
Gabriel Figueroa Gama, a Mexican illegal immigrant, was convicted of homicide. (ICE)
Gabriel Figueroa Gama
Gabriel Figueroa Gama, a Mexican illegal immigrant, was convicted of homicide.
Gama was previously deported in 2002.
Galuak Michael Rotgai, a criminal illegal immigrant from Sudan, has been convicted of homicide and assault. (ICE)
Galuak Michael Rotgai
Galuak Michael Rotgai, a Sudanese illegal immigrant, was convicted of homicide.
Thai Lor, a criminal illegal immigrant from Laos, has been convicted of two counts of homicide. (ICE)
Thai Lor
Thai Lor, a Laotian illegal immigrant, was convicted of two counts of homicide.
Lor has had a deportation order since 2009.
Mariama Sia Kanu, a criminal illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone, has been convicted of two counts of homicide, four DUIs, three counts of larceny and burglary. (ICE)
Mariana Sia Kanu
Mariana Sia Kanu, an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone, was convicted of two counts of homicide.
Kanu has had a deportation order since 2022.
Aldrin Guerrero Munoz, a criminal illegal immigrant from Mexico, has been convicted of homicide and assault.
Aldrin Guerrero Munoz
Aldrin Guerrero Munoz, a Mexican illegal immigrant, was convicted of homicide.
Munoz has had a deportation order since 2015.
Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed, a Somalian illegal immigrant, was convicted of manslaughter.
Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed
Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed, a Somalian illegal immigrant, was convicted of manslaughter.
Ahmed has had a deportation order since 2022.
Mongong Kual Maniang Deng, a criminal illegal immigrant from Sudan, has been convicted of attempt to commit homicide, weapon possession and DUI.
Mongong Dual Maniang Deng
Mongong Dual Maniang Deng, a Sudanese illegal immigrant, was convicted of attempt to commit homicide, weapon possession and DUI.
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Aler Gomez Lucas, a criminal illegal immigrant from Guatemala, has been convicted of negligent homicide with a vehicle and DUI.
Aler Gomez Lucas
Aler Gomez Lucas, a Guatemalan illegal immigrant, was convicted of negligent homicide with a vehicle and DUI.
Lucas has had a deportation order since 2022.
Shwe Htoo, a criminal illegal immigrant from Burma, has been convicted of negligent homicide with a weapon. (ICE)
Shwe Htoo
Shwe Htoo, a Burmese illegal immigrant, was convicted of negligent homicide.
Indiana basketball starting lineups, introductions video
The Hoosiers met undefeated Nebraska on Jan. 10. Here are the starting lineups from Assembly Hall.
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana men’s basketball coach Darian DeVries thought his team played well for about 28 minutes Saturday afternoon.
In those 28 minutes, IU built up as much as a 16-point lead against undefeated Nebraska. The Hoosiers went on a 12-2 run to end the first half, then extended that lead early in the second half.
Then, the defense started crumbling. Tucker DeVries picked up two fouls in the course of 21 seconds, forcing him to the bench. The Hoosiers started turning the ball over.
And Indiana’s upset bid fell apart, as the Hoosiers dropped an 83-77 decision to the Cornhuskers (16-0, 5-0 Big Ten).
“It’s disappointing, for sure,” Darian DeVries said. “We played well for a good 25, 27, 28 minutes, whatever, and then just had a bad stretch in there, and the game flipped. That’s why the turnovers are a big piece of that. We had, (a 16-point lead) and Tucker picked up his third and fourth foul on back-to-back possessions. Then they went on a 10-0 run right after that. That was a big turning point in the game, I thought, when he picked those two up.”
It seemed like the coaching staff (and fans) didn’t agree with those fouls, either.
Tucker DeVries’ third foul came as he fell on the ground while trying to defend Berke Buyuktuncel’s shot. Buyuktuncel continued to attempt a shot after the fall, and he got tangled in DeVries’ legs, falling himself, and officials called a foul on DeVries. Both Tucker and Darian DeVries, along with the crowd of 13,000 fans, didn’t agree with that foul.
Tucker DeVries’ fourth foul, which forced him to the bench for eight minutes, came just 21 seconds after his third. On the Hoosiers’ next offensive possession, DeVries attempted to shoulder his defender to get more space, and got called for the offensive foul and the turnover.
Indiana (12-4, 3-2) turned the ball over on four of its next five possessions, Darian DeVries said, and Nebraska capitalized for a 12-2 run to tie the game.
“I just think we didn’t have the type of possessions we needed after (Tucker DeVries) went out again, and most of them, it was just turnovers,” Darian DeVries said. “We didn’t get shots at the goal. I thought there might’ve been one or two in there where I think Lamar (Wilkerson) drove it hard and tried going through contact, and we didn’t get one there, but outside of that, we just didn’t get very good possessions. Our movement wasn’t as good.”
After Nebraska went on that run, all the momentum shifted to the Cornhuskers. In ways, the Hoosiers couldn’t get out of their own head, and the mistakes kept coming.
“We’ve talked to them a lot about that next play mentality,” Darian DeVries said. “Win that next play, and not compound mistakes. I thought tonight, again, for a stretch there was a period where we let one mistake turn into two. Then, instead of digging in and really making sure we get a quality possession the next time, we compounded it with another turnover. It led to back-to-back-to-back. All of a sudden your lead is gone, and momentum is real. It shifted pretty quickly there.”
This game, especially taking into account the 16-point lead Indiana once had, was a crucial opportunity for the Hoosiers to get their first Quad 1 win of the season.
But the Hoosiers, sitting at No. 30 in the NET rankings, still have three straight Quad 1 opportunities coming up in two road tilts at Michigan State and Michigan and a home game against Iowa in the next two weeks.
Those games, much like Nebraska, will be tall tasks. But, DeVries said, if the Hoosiers can execute for a full game like they did in those 28 minutes on Saturday, they’ll have a chance at them.
“When they’re executing the way that they did the first 25 minutes, it looks really good,” DeVries said. “And they’re doing a great job, and they’re defending and getting movement and things.”
Want more Hoosiers coverage? Sign up for IndyStar’s Hoosiers newsletter. Listen to Mind Your Banners, our IU Athletics-centric podcast, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the latest on IndyStar TV: Hoosiers.
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