UNITED STATES
CNN
May 22, 2018
By Emanuella Grinberg
Former world champion swimmer Ariana Kukors Smith says it was an “open secret” among USA Swimming’s leadership that her coach sexually abused her as a teen.
The former Olympian says in a lawsuit that Sean Hutchison sexually molested her for the first time in 2006 when she was 16. Hutchison has previously denied the allegations.
Instead of acting on the information, the lawsuit says, officials engaged in a cover-up to shield Hutchison from consequences.
Hutchison and USA Swimming, the governing body for competitive swimming in the United States, are among those named in a lawsuit filed Monday in California alleging sexual abuse of a minor, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. USA Swimming declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Smith, 28, first went public with her account in January. In the lawsuit, she says Hutchison of kissed, fondled and performed oral sex on her when she was a minor, before they had intercourse for the first time when she was 18. She also accuses him of taking nude photos of her as a minor.
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