Arbitrator Awards Whistle-Blower Thousands

LAS VEGAS , NV , DECEMBER 28, 2005:  Bruce G. Cohne, a sports arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association (AAA), today awarded Jon Jackson a victory in his arbitration case against the United States Figure Skating Association (US Figure Skating). Jackson was a key witness in the 2002 Winter Olympics scandal, having blown the whistle on the French judge who admitted to having cheated in a vote-swapping deal with the Russians.

The arbitration award, totaling over $18,000.00 for attorney’s fees, costs and AAA fees, was based on the US Figure Skating’s failure to follow its own bylaws and rules in its attempt to sanction Jackson . This was US Figure Skating’s second attempt to unjustly punish Jackson, the first being an attempt to strip Jackson and Ron Pfenning, the referee of the Olympic Pair Event, of their eligibility after they formed the now defunct World Skating Federation - a cleaned-up, competing organization to the International Skating Union (ISU) in 2003.

“Justice prevails” said Jackson after hearing the news, “which is rare in the figure skating world.”

Jackson is the author of an upcoming memoir that blows the lid off the tightly kept secrets of the mysterious and often scandal-ridden world of figure skating. His book “On Edge: Backroom Dealing, Cocktail Scheming, Triple Axels, and How Top Skaters Get Screwed” is due for release the week of January 9, 2006.

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