Thanks to Carly for starting this thread. Hadn't seen or heard about all this, but it doesn't surprise me. Unfortunately, I have to agree with several of the ladies who responded earlier in this thread...not impressed with the former Olympic athlete or how she's handled herself throughout all of this. Appears to be completely out for herself and monetary gain and notoriety with little regard for who she runs over in the process. I know for a fact that her former agency was being investigated for tax issues following the news article that outed her and it appears that the athlete provided authorities with her personal contacts from the hobby, presumably to avoid some kind of prosecution. I know that caused some disconcerting LE involvement for at least some hobbyists out there as tax authorities attempted to develop a case against the agency. So, I'm not a huge fan of said former athlete.
Some things I think we can all take from this:
- NEVER provide personally identifying information to a provider or agency; the risk is simply too high. If it's required for screening, move on til you can establish a good rep in the community or join a service like P411 (dangers there, too, of course, re: the recent release of members' emails from a prominent internet hookup site). Hobbyists I know close to the flame on this were contacted for "interviews" by tax authorities because some kind of contact info from the athlete's list led authorities to the hobbyist. That's gotta be scary.
- Be circumspect about personal details when meeting with providers and hobbyists alike. A hobbyist I know who got a little ensnared in this had made casual conversation with the athlete when meeting her as a provider and SHE HAD RECORDED THOSE DETAILS in her contact list! Providers should be equally careful...I met the athlete as a provider before this all went down and she had told me her birth date. She seemed familiar to me so I Googled the birthday right after the meet and bam, there was her name and everything. I even sent her a note afterward warning her to be more careful (a few months before it all came crashing down); sad to see she didn't extend similar courtesy to the hobbyists she met.
- Be careful with agencies. I know a lot of us have used them before or do use them. I certainly have despite warnings to the contrary previously, but finally swore off them after this whole thing went down. Likelihood of an independent being come after by LE for tax issues is pretty low...but it's much higher for an agency if they don't have a good tax shelter / "laundering" plan and if the authorities can develop the proper legal case to come calling (in this case the athlete's admission to working for an agency and relatively high public profile appears to have piqued the interest of the tax man)
- We all like to believe that this community has some kind of shared code of honor because we're all in this together thumbing our noses at convention and society (to a degree). However, when the chips are down, most of us will take care of ourselves and leave others out to dry. Unfortunate, but true. The athlete previously talked about such a code and discretion and the like in an interview I read about her after her outing but in the meantime sold every hobbyist she'd ever met with and kept contact info on down the river when it benefitted her. Maybe, you or I wouldn't do this. I'd like to believe I wouldn't...but do you want to bank your public reputation and maybe even your livelihood on my good graces? I didn't think so. Until the US moves away from it's archaic views toward sex and relationships and professional companionship, protect yourselves! No one else can be counted on to do so.
Safe lobbying,
Twice
