This Week From New Times Weekly in South Florida: The Alex Pussieldi Story

by Irvin Muchnick

Village Voice Media’s New Times weekly will shortly publish a cover story jumping off from Concussion Inc.’s investigations of Alex Pussieldi and the cover-ups of his misconduct by both local police and governments, and USA Swimming.

The first substantial coverage of Pussieldi outside these pages lands in the thick of the controversy over USA Swimming chief executive Chuck Wielgus’s imminently scheduled induction into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. The Hall is located in the same Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex where Pussieldi’s 2004 physical assault on a Mexican swimmer, who was his legal ward and was being secretly videotaped by the coach, took place. At the time, Pussieldi was an assistant under Hall of Fame coach Jack Nelson – who himself is credibly accused by legendary swimmer Diana Nyad of having molested her as a young teen under his supervision.

The anti-Wielgus petition to the Hall of Fame, by Nyad and 18 other survivors of swim coach sex abuse, can be viewed and co-signed at http://www.change.org/petitions/bruce-wigo-rescind-chuck-wielgus-hall-of-fame-nomination?recruiter=97753835&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition. As this article was being posted, the petition was nearing the 1,000-supporter threshold.

The New Times article also is being published as I litigate a claim under the Florida Public Records Statute that the City of Fort Lauderdale illegally redacted material from documents released to Concussion Inc. We are awaiting the assignment to the case of a judge in Florida circuit court.

New Times’ Miami and Broward-Palm Beach editions, both of which include the Pussieldi story, will begin reaching news racks on Wednesday. The article is expected to be accessible online Tuesday. We will publish the link as soon as it is up.

Complete links to Concussion Inc.’s  Alex Pussieldi coverage are at https://concussioninc.net/?p=8652.