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FIRST ON FOX: U.S. Olympic fencer Margherita Guzzi Vincenti, alongside fellow fencers Emma Griffin and Patricia Hughes, have filed a class action lawsuit against USA Fencing following 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 women-only, including in competitions involving athletes under the age of 18.
“Because the USFA’s youth and cadet policy allowed ‘unrestricted’ self-identification and lacked any verification mechanism, biological males under the age of 16 were permitted, and could have been expected to participate in the women’s event,” the lawsuit alleges.
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Margherita Guzzi Vincenti poses for a portrait during the USA Fencing Team media day at the New York Athletic Club on May 21, 2024 in New York. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
“The USFA also does not disclose to members or participants whether transgender or non-binary athletes are registered for a given event, leaving female athletes and their parents unable to make informed decisions regarding participation.”
The lawsuit also alleged that the organization failed to enforce its own previous policy of only allowing men to compete in the women’s category after completing a year of anti-testosterone treatment.
“Based on information and belief, Defendant USFA never implemented a 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 undergone hormone suppression treatment,” the lawsuit claims.
USA Fencing provided a statement to PK Press Club Digital in response 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 address this matter through the legal process and have no further comment at this time,” the statement said.
Guzzi, who competed for Team USA in 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 trained and competed thinking that women’s competitions were only for women. This is about fairness and preserving opportunities for girls and women who dedicate their lives to competing as equals.”
Hughes, a veteran with 20 years of experience, expressed the same concern.
“I have seen women’s fencing grow from a niche sport to one in which female athletes can thrive at an international level,” Hughes said. “This progress only continues if equity is respected. The next generation of girls deserves the same level playing field that inspired us decades ago.”
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Griffin, a notable NCAA competitor, said young athletes deserve honesty and clarity from national governing bodies.
“We pay entrance fees, travel across the country and dedicate years to training,” Griffin said. “We deserve to know the rules and be confident 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 argues 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 the organization listed itself as an educational service organization twice in 2020 and 2021 in its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications during the COVID-19 pandemic, and because the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) receives direct federal funding, including taxpayer-sourced appropriations, PPP forgivable loans, and funding from the Department of Alumni. Fighters.
The plaintiffs are represented by Mahdavi, Bacon, Halfhill & Young PLLC and The Dhillon Law Group.
“Title IX was passed to ensure equal opportunity in athletics for women,” said attorney Karin Sweigart of Dhillon Law Group. “Our customers are not asking for special treatment, only the fairness and integrity that women’s sports have long promised.
Attorney Charles Wang of Mahdavi Bacon and pro bono general counsel for 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 that they have fought for over a hundred years.”
Attorney James Bacon added that “this case seeks to restore trust, transparency and respect for federal law.”
Former USA Fencing board chairman Damien Lehfeldt is also listed as a defendant. PK Press Club Digital has contacted Lehfeldt for comment.
Lehfeldt was replaced as president last weekend after choosing not to run again.
In Lehfeldt’s announcement that he would not run again, he cited “lawsuits” and “death threats” to justify his decision. Lehfeldt has been at the center of controversy for USA Fencing since April when fencer Stephanie Turner went viral for kneeling in protest against a transgender fencer and was disqualified.
The incident resulted in Lehfeldt being federally subpoenaed at a congressional hearing to explain the organization’s policies 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 participation policy in July to only allow female competitors to compete 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 executive order “Keep Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
