SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP GPS COO 3/10/21 11:00 AM Sentencing hearing Info for public

There are parents interested and they follow this message board. Your opinion has been duly noted. Best of luck to you and yours as well.

Interesting statement from Steven Griffin:

"I have a very short case study that I would like to share with my friends. As you read it, please consider how many people along the way could have raised their hand and made the right, ethical decision.

Here we go...

· The leaders of a youth sports company decide they want to source cheap labor

· They enlist the help from friends and colleagues in foreign countries to identify young coaches who want to come to the U.S.

· They charge the prospective coaches a “professional development” fee to start the visa process

· More than one executive constructs a detailed scheme to obtain fraudulent visas for these coaches – visas that are intended for professional athletes, not youth soccer coaches

· The executives instruct certain full-time staff to train the prospective coaches on how to navigate the interview process at the foreign embassies

· They even advise the coaches to go to certain embassies that seem less diligent than others and stay away from those embassies that have denied these visas in the past

· Certain full-time staff prepare and distribute a script that instructs the coaches on how to mislead the embassies

· Certain professional soccer clubs - let’s say NWSL or MLS teams - act as sponsors or petitioners for these coaches knowing that the coach will never work for their club, never be on their payroll, never live in the area, never be at their facility. Yet they complete and sign immigration documents to the contrary

· Very senior people, maybe even certain owners, at these professional clubs understand the scheme

· The youth soccer company compensates the professional clubs for their role in the scheme - pays a per-visa fee

· Once in the U.S., the coaches are often underpaid, some are forced into unacceptable living arrangements, occasionally threatened, and located in states that are inconsistent with their visa applications – often resulting in inappropriate payroll tax treatment

· Oh, one more thing… the parent company’s senior executives (including accounting officers) are aware of the visa legal expenses, fees paid to the professional clubs, travel costs to bring the coaches to the U.S., the types of visas (for which youth coaches don’t qualify) and they look the other way.

. Actually, they didn’t look the other way. They capitalized these expenses as prepaid assets on the balance sheet so they wouldn’t negatively impact earnings in the current year

I can’t even count how many people along the way could have stepped in and made the right decision.

It’s time to tell the truth and clean up youth sports.:

Another excerpt from Griffin:

"Today, a guilty plea was entered by the former Chief Operating Officer of Global Premier Soccer. Based on his crimes, he could face between two and five years in federal prison, several years of supervised probation, up to $250,000 in fines and, potentially, deportation. His sentencing is scheduled for June. Between now and then, he will be cooperating with the ongoing, and seemingly expanding, investigation.

He participated in the scheme, but he, alone, certainly didn’t design or execute it.

Just one more life disrupted. Another family flipped upside down.

There will be more. This was an elaborate conspiracy with a significant number of participants across multiple organizations. Don’t worry, there will be more.

This is also no longer simply about P1S visas. Although, there were at least seven professional soccer clubs involved in the scheme, there needs to be an investigation and consequences for those who participated. There needs to be some form communication to the public from governing bodies and league officials.

This has now also expanded to H-2B visas. Misrepresenting coaching qualifications, the actual employer and geographies in which the visa recipients would be working. Literally, buying and selling coaches."

Given the extent of the accusations and the significance of the people involved, it will be interesting to see what justice, if any takes place. My guess, is this will be similar to the late, great UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian quote: "The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky they're going to give Cleveland State another year of probation."

For those interested, a good summary of the events can be found here.

https://medium.com/ranting-soccer-dad/gl...st-76e4e10ca396

Note, no from SC, or any clubs in SC, is mentioned in the article. The article merely tries to summarize the case and the primary players involved.