'More sexual abuse complaints filed against Coast Guard, service now faces $290M in claims
By GARY WARNER STARS AND STRIPES •
March 13, 2025
Seven more former U.S. Coast Guard cadets filed claims that they were victims of sexual abuse at the service’s academy, the latest round of complaints tied to the Fouled Anchor scandal. The Coast Guard now faces $290 million in claims from the sexual assault scandal at its academy in New London, Conn. The administrative complaints were filed Thursday under the Federal Tort Claims Act, the first legal step in initiating a civil lawsuit against the federal government.
The new filings bring the total to 29 cadets and prospective cadets who have filed complaints, according to Christine Dunn, an attorney with the Washington, D.C., law firm Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, which is representing the cadets. The legal complaints follow a year of scrutiny for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy that began with the revelation that the service concealed a report that found academy officials had routinely mishandled reports of sexual assault among cadets. The report, known as Operation Fouled Anchor, was the result of a six-year internal review of 102 reports of sexual assault and harassment cases at the academy between 1990 and 2006.
Fouled Anchor’s existence became public after CNN learned of the report and the decision in 2020 by the Coast Guard not to release it. Only after the news network reported on Operation Fouled Anchor did Coast Guard officials go to Congress with it. Congressional committees and the Department of Homeland Security inspector general have since opened investigations into the cover-up, and the Coast Guard Investigative Service has begun criminal investigations into the cases included in Fouled Anchor.
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https://www.stripes.com/branches/coast_guard/2025-03-13/coast-guard-sexual-assault-fouled-anchor-17131851.htmlSource - Stars and Stripes
