their safety and well-being arising from his presence, according to USA Fencing. USA Fencing therefore prohibited him from staying at his teammates' hotel. Hadzic's lawyer said USA Fencing had known of the allegations made by the three women against Hadzic "for years," but until the Olympics had never put a restriction in place for Hadzic while he competed all over the world with USA Fencing teams. He therefore sought to overturn the restriction in arbitration, without success. Hadzic had previously been suspended by Columbia University for a year for sexual misconduct, as a result of the findings of a Title IX investigation of Hadzic's behavior. By October 2021, a total of at least six sexual misconduct complaints, including rape, had been filed against Hadzic. During the Hadzic scandal, it was disclosed by the press that USA Fencing had received a sexual assault complaint about Hadzic by a fellow USA Fencing fencer in 2013, but not acted on it. The lawyer for the complainant had written to Ekeren in 2013: "How can the [US Fencing Association], in good conscience, claim its hands are tied and permit the participation of a known rapist into its athletic midst?" However, Ekeren did not respond further to the lawyer, and the letters were not made public for eight years. In the wake of that disclosure, the Executive Director/CEO (Kris Ekeren) and General Counsel (Jim Neale) of USA Fencing resigned in 2021. In August 2022, a lawsuit was filed against USA Fencing, alleging that its officials knew that fencing coach Robert Piraino was engaging in sexually abusive behavior, but that the organization failed to act before the fencing coach then sexually abused a 13-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy. In a criminal action against him, Piraino was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Member ratings The USFA tracks ratings for its members. Ratings are a system of classification for USFA fencers; they are primarily used to seed tournaments, but are also considered to be (very) broad indicators of skill. When a fencer first joins the USFA, he or she will have a classification of "U", or "Unrated." There are six different ratings in the USFA those being U (the lowest rating), E, D, C, B, and A (the highest rating). Fencers may increase their classification—from U to E, and then up to A—by placing in USFA-sanctioned tournaments. A tournament must have a certain number of competitors,