Federal Court Appeal Next After Government Denies Internal Appeal For Release of Rapist Irish National Swim Team Coach George Gibney’s American Immigration Records

‘Global Soccer Arrests Give Hope For Investigating Corruption in Swimming’ (full text)
June 4, 2015
Scott Volkers, Australian-Brazilian Accused Molester Swim Coach, Turns Up at Santa Clara Meet — One More Reason Why Our George Gibney FOIA Litigation Is Important
June 22, 2015

by Irvin Muchnick

 

Without comment, the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today denied our administrative appeal of the agency’s decision to withhold, without targeted redactions, 98 pages of the 102-page file of George Gibney’s visa and green card records.

On May 21, we published my appeal letter. (And complete headline links to our entire Gibney series are at the bottom of this post. Gibney, who resigned as Irish national swim team coach in the face of dozens of allegations of sexual molestation of swimmers he supervised, moved to the U.S. in the mid-1990s. Spurred by Irish journalists and a member of the legislature, there is a renewed effort to reopen a national police investigation of Gibney and seek his extradition to face charges that were detailed in late nineties fact-finding report directed by a High Court justice.)

The next step for Concussion Inc. is federal court. In light of a recent ruling by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in a Freedom of Information Act request by the Union Leader newspaper in Manchester, New Hampshire (which actually led to the release of even more extensive types of information than I am requesting), I am confident that USCIS will be found here to have abused its discretion in withholding the Gibney documents in their entirety.

I have retained San Francisco Bay Area attorney Roy S. Gordet to represent me in this matter. Roy is an outstanding lawyer who, in 1999, worked with me at the Federal District Court and Oakland’s First Amendment Project on a case that eventually went to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The result was the negotiated release of a memorandum by the Arthur Andersen accounting firm in the settlement of a class-action copyright lawsuit on which I had consulted. In turn, that document would prove instrumental in the crafting of objections I spearheaded in a global copyright settlement on behalf of freelance journalists, which reached the Supreme Court in 2009 under the name Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick and settled last year.

The federal government has a FOIA mediation service called the Office of Government Information Services. We may avail ourselves of that office to clarify technical points and to see if USCIS will budge from its position that, essentially, all Gibney immigration records, even in redacted form, are exempt from public disclosure due to privacy concerns. However, our possible use of UGIS does not preclude simultaneously litigating in Federal District Court, which appears to be where this case is heading.

 

THE GIBNEY SERIES:

 

Why Is George Gibney — No. 1 At-Large Pedophile in Global Sports — Living in Florida? And Who Sponsored His Green Card?

Published January 27th, 2015

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Offers Confused Initial Response to FOIA Request For Rapist Irish Coach George Gibney’s Visa and Green Card Files

Published February 18th, 2015

Senator Feinstein Leads Congressional Group Assisting Concussion Inc. in FOIA Request For Former Irish Coach George Gibney’s U.S. Immigration Records

Published February 19th, 2015

How Former USA Swimming President Dale Neuburger Responded To an American Court To Questions About Rapist Irish Coach George Gibney – Now Living in Florida With a Green Card

Published February 22nd, 2015

Rapist Irish National Coach George Gibney in Colorado in 2000 – Coached For USA Swimming Club, Claimed To Be on Board of At-Risk Youth Center, Traveled to Peru With a Priest

Published February 23rd, 2015

Colorado Police Confirm Basics of Concussion Inc.’s George Gibney Reporting; Questions Persist on USA Swimming’s Cover-Up Role

Published February 24th, 2015

Archdiocese of Denver ‘No Comments’ Irish Coach George Gibney – Plus Other New Notes on USA Swimming’s Cover-Up

Published February 24th, 2015

George Gibney’s USA Swimming Club in Denver Claims ‘No First-Hand Knowledge’ of His Dismissal and Notice to Others in 2000

Published February 25th, 2015

More Info on George Gibney at the USA Swimming Club in Denver, As Public Records Requests Escalate

Published February 25th, 2015

What’s Ahead in the George Gibney / USA Swimming Investigation

Published February 26th, 2015

BREAKING: Arvada (Colorado) Police Say George Gibney Left North Jeffco Swim Team As Early As 1995, Following Sexual Harassment Incident And Exposure of His Irish Past

Published February 27th, 2015

“Alleged abuser Gibney’s green card queried” — Sunday Times of London, Irish Edition

Published March 1st, 2015

George Gibney Swimming Abuse Cover-Up Featured Tonight on Irish TV

Published March 2nd, 2015

Here’s the 2000 Wheat Ridge (Colorado) Police Report on Rapist Irish National Team and USA Swimming Coach George Gibney

Published March 3rd, 2015

Member of Irish Parliament Calls on Government to Seek George Gibney’s Extradition From the U.S.

Published March 3rd, 2015

Tuesday Night Notes on the Exploding George Gibney / USA Swimming Story on Two Continents

Published March 3rd, 2015

See It Now – Irish Legislator O’Sullivan, Journalist McCarthy, Whistleblower Parent Discuss the Quest For George Gibney Justice on TV3’s ‘Tonight With Vincent Browne’

Published March 4th, 2015

Wheat Ridge (Colorado) Police: We Destroyed 1998 Report on George Gibney

Published March 4th, 2015

Status of Our Freedom of Information Act Request For George Gibney’s Immigration Files — Now Being Closely Watched in Both Ireland and U.S.

Published March 4th, 2015

Link to Irish Times Story on Irish Parliament’s Maureen O’Sullivan’s Appeal For Extradition of George Gibney

Published March 4th, 2015

What Complicates American Prosecution of Irish National Team and USA Swimming Coach George Gibney For His 1991 Rape on American Soil

Published March 5th, 2015

Irish Times: Minister of Justice to Discuss Legislator’s Appeal For Extradition of George Gibney

Published March 5th, 2015

Reprint of Sunday Times Article on Muchnick’s Freedom of Information Request For Rapist Irish and USA Swimming Coach George Gibney’s American Immigration Records

Published March 6th, 2015

Roundup of New Media Coverage of Irish National Team and USA Swimming Rapist Coach George Gibney

Published March 6th, 2015

Irish Legislator: George Gibney Prosecution Follow-Up Being Pursued in Both Ireland and U.S.

Published March 10th, 2015

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Concussion Inc. - Author Irvin Muchnick