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FIRST ON FOX: US Olympic fencer Margherita Guzzi Vincenti, along with fellow competitive women 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 that USA Fencing knowingly allowed 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.
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Margherita Guzzi Vincenti poses for a portrait during the Team USA Fencing media day at the New York Athletic Club on May 21, 2024 in New York City. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
“Defendant USFA also fails to disclose to members or participants whether transgender or non-binary athletes are participating in a given event, leaving female athletes and parents unable to make informed decisions about participation.”
The lawsuit also alleged that the organization did not enforce its own previous policy of only allowing men to compete in the women’s category after completing a year of testosterone-suppressing treatment.
“Upon 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 and compete in women’s events regardless of whether they had completed any hormone-suppressing treatment,” the lawsuit alleges.
USA Fencing provided a statement to Pakinomist 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 October 29, and we strongly dispute its allegations. We will pursue this matter through the legal process and have no further comment at this time,” the statement read.
Guzzi, who competed for 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 kid,” she said. “I’ve trained and competed with the expectation that women’s competition is for women. It’s about fairness and preserving opportunities for girls and women who dedicate their lives to competing on a level playing field.”
Hughes, a veteran with 20 years of experience, expressed similar concerns.
“I’ve seen women’s fencing grow from a niche sport to one where female athletes can thrive internationally,” Hughes said. “That progress will only continue if justice is enforced. The next generation of girls deserves the same level playing field that inspired us decades ago.”
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Griffin, a prominent 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’s about respect for athletes and transparency from the organizations that govern our sport.”
The suit alleges that USA Fencing is an educational institution subject to Title IX and therefore violated it by allowing men to compete in the girls’ and women’s categories.
The suit seeks to argue this by alleging that twice in 2020 and 2021 the organization misrepresented itself as an education service organization in connection with its applications for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan during the COVID-19 pandemic and because the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) receives direct federal funding, including taxpayer loans, and PPP funding, from Veterans Affairs.
The plaintiffs are represented by Mahdavi, Bacon, Halfhill & Young PLLC and The Dhillon Law Group.
“Title IX was enacted to ensure equal athletic opportunity 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 the Fair Fencing Organization said, “By allowing biological males to compete in a women’s event, USA Fencing violated Title IX by depriving women of their own sport, which women had fought for over a hundred years to have.”
Attorney James Bacon added “this case is about restoring trust, transparency and compliance with federal law.”
Former USA Fencing chairman Damien Lehfeldt is also listed as a defendant. Pakinomist Digital has reached out to Lehfeldt for comment.
Lehfeldt was replaced as chairman last weekend after he chose not to run again.
In Lehfeldt’s announcement that he would not run for re-election, he cited “lawsuits” and “death threats” as reasons for his decision. Lehfeldt has been at the center of controversy for USA Fencing dating back to April when female fencer Stephanie Turner went viral for kneeling in protest of a transgender fencer and was disqualified.
The incident prompted a federal subpoena by Lehfeldt for a congressional hearing to explain the organization’s policy toward transgender athletes. Then former Olympic coach and board member Andrey Geva and former Olympic fencer Abdel Salem sued Lehfeldt for allegedly making “false statements” during the hearing.
USA Fencing then changed its transgender entry policy in July to only allow female competitors to enter 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.
