KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — More lawsuits were filed Tuesday that named Varsity Spirit, Bain Capital and the U.S. All-Star Federation in an ongoing scandal alleging the companies did not protect teenage athletes from coaches who would provide them with alcohol and illegal drugs before sexually abusing them.
The new lawsuits include three survivors, one male and two female. They name several coaches who were involved in sexual abuse and who worked in many locations. Attorneys said the new lawsuits include a previously unnamed coach in the allegations.
Varsity and various business names associated with it operate cheering operations across the country, according to the lawsuit. It also says that the businesses would organize cheerleading "camps" — where young athletes would gather to learn new skills from coaches.
"Defendants established a competitive environment soliciting young athletes to cross state lines with minimal parental or adult supervision to converge at pre-scheduled locations where these athletes were then exposed to drugs, alcohol, and predatory conduct by adults, including coaches and choreographers, all while publicly representing that Defendants were providing a culture of safety at these same events," the lawsuit says.
In one lawsuit, attorneys say a girl who started cheering in middle school would travel several hours each weekend to cheer at a location in Greenville. It says other parents and coaches would buy alcohol for her and other young athletes.
When she was around 15 years old, it says she started spending time in an apartment that housed the location's coaches. She said it was known as a place to use illegal drugs after practice. There, she said she was given alcohol, LSD, acid, psychedelic mushrooms, cocaine and MDMA by coaches.
She would also engage in sexual acts there, according to the lawsuit, before returning to the gym the following day for practice.
When she was 15 years old, a 21-year-old coach also started sending explicit messages on Snapchat and asked her for explicit messages, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit said the coach sexually assaulted her in April 2017 after taking her to his car during a competition.
The other two lawsuits describe similar experiences while victims participated in the program. None of the new lawsuits mention a Knoxville coach who was named in the original lawsuit, accused of sexually and emotionally abusing a minor from Knox County and a person from Union County, among other victims.
Attorneys with Strom Law Firm filed the new lawsuits in Greenville, South Carolina. Attorneys representing the survivors include Bakari Sellers Jessica Fickling and Alexandra Benevento.