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ESPN Senior Writer- Alyssa Roenigk is a senior writer for ESPN whose assignments have taken her to six continents and caused her to commit countless acts of recklessness. (Follow @alyroe on Twitter).
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Tisha Thompson is an investigative reporter for ESPN based in Washington, D.C. Her work appears on all platforms, both domestically and internationally.
Lisa Kosglow, a U.S. Ski & Snowboard board member who was accused of interfering with the sexual misconduct investigation of former head coach Peter Foley, resigned from the organization on Thursday, according to the federation.
U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced Kosglow's departure in an email, which ESPN has reviewed, that was sent Thursday morning by federation CEO and president Sophie Goldschmidt to the board of directors, athletes, staff and other partners.
The email states that Goldschmidt and others at U.S. Ski & Snowboard "learned yesterday that a board member" had contact with two athletes.
"The board member recognizes that this was a lapse in judgment and did not comply with SafeSport's or U.S. Ski & Snowboard's Codes of Conduct," Goldschmidt wrote in her email. "As of today this member is no longer with U.S. Ski & Snowboard."
Kosglow did not respond to requests for comment.
Kosglow's resignation came one day after ESPN reported on her alleged interference and after Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) accused the federation of tampering in the U.S. Center for SafeSport's investigation.
The two former athletes who accused Foley of sexual assault and misconduct said that Kosglow made unsolicited phone calls to them after initial allegations surfaced against Foley in early February.
An Olympic medalist, who requested her name be withheld, said Kosglow called her on Feb. 16 and told her, "I have to tell you that the first thing Peter told me when I saw him in person was, 'Have you talked to [the Olympic medalist],' and would I reach out to you?"
Despite writing in her email that the federation "learned yesterday" about Kosglow's alleged contact with the two athletes, Goldschmidt said in an interview with ESPN on Thursday that she and the federation's general counsel, Alison Pitt, first learned of Kosglow's alleged actions in February, after Pitt spoke with the two athletes. Pitt has also been accused by the women who filed complaints against Foley of interfering in the investigation.
"I remember Alison called me right after she'd had the call with them," Goldschmidt told ESPN. "I'm like, 'Well, we need to get in touch with Lisa right away. What is she doing? What did she say?' Alison and our outside counsel had a call with her the following day."
ESPN was unaware of the email and Kosglow's resignation during the interview. After the interview, multiple sources sent a copy of the email to ESPN.
When asked about the discrepancy between what she wrote in her email and what she said to ESPN, Goldschmidt told ESPN in a statement on Thursday evening that the federation was "made aware of additional details yesterday surrounding Lisa's contact with the claimants, which appear to be in violation of the SafeSport Code and U.S. Ski & Snowboard's Code of Conduct." After U.S. Ski & Snowboard became aware of these additional details, Goldschmidt spoke with Kosglow, who submitted her resignation Thursday.
"While Lisa was a member of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Board of Directors, she was not acting as a representative of U.S. Ski & Snowboard," Goldschmidt said.
Kosglow was a member of the 1998 and 2002 U.S. Olympic snowboard teams.
Alyssa Roenigk is a senior writer and Tisha Thompson is an investigative reporter for ESPN. Reach them at alyssa.roenigk@espn.com and tisha.thompson@espn.com. On Twitter, their handles are @alyroe and @TishaESPN.