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Professional hockey participant Alex Formenton, a former member of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators who at the moment performs in Switzerland, has been charged by police in London, Ont., his lawyer stated Sunday.
“The London Police have charged a number of gamers, together with Alex Formenton, in reference to an accusation made in 2018,” lead counsel Daniel Brown stated in an electronic mail. “Alex will vigorously defend his innocence and asks that individuals not rush to judgment with out listening to the entire proof.”
Video footage reveals Formenton sporting a gray jacket, darkish pants and white footwear as he entered a London police station on Sunday morning together with his authorized illustration. He made no remark.
A follow-up message left with Brown and a message to Formenton’s agent weren’t instantly returned.
The Globe and Mail, citing two unnamed sources, reported final Wednesday that prices are linked to an alleged group sexual assault of a lady in a London, Ont., lodge room in 2018. Not one of the allegations have been confirmed in court docket.
Formenton is one among 5 gamers from Canada’s 2018 world junior workforce who just lately went on indefinite go away from their professional golf equipment amid a report that 5 members of that roster had been requested to give up to face sexual assault prices.
Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers, Michael McLeod and Cal Foote — each of the New Jersey Devils — and Dillon Dubé of the Calgary Flames had been additionally granted go away by their respective NHL groups in current days.
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Ontario’s Ministry of the Lawyer Common stated final Wednesday that no prices regarding the 2018 incident have been filed in court docket, and The Canadian Press has no data that connects the gamers’ leaves to the investigation.
Formenton is believed to be the one participant who has surrendered.
“We’ll present all updates at our press convention scheduled for February 5, 2024,” London Police spokesperson Matthew Dawson stated Sunday in an electronic mail.
Formenton, who was drafted forty seventh total in 2017 by the Senators, had a career-high 18 objectives and 32 factors in 2021-22. He was unable to agree on a brand new deal as a restricted free agent and signed in Switzerland.
His Swiss membership, HC Ambri-Piotta, cited private causes for his go away and stated he had been allowed to return to Canada.
The Flyers cited private causes for Hart’s go away. The Flames cited Dube’s psychological well being, whereas the Devils didn’t give a purpose why McLeod and Foote had been granted go away.
The incident is alleged to have occurred following a Hockey Canada gala in June 2018 the place the gamers had been honoured for his or her victory at that yr’s world junior match.
A girl recognized as E.M. in court docket paperwork filed a $3.55-million lawsuit within the spring of 2022 that was rapidly settled out of court docket by Hockey Canada earlier than TSN first broke the story.
Subsequent revelations that the nationwide group maintained a fund drawing on minor hockey charges to pay for uninsured liabilities, together with lawsuits associated to sexual assaults, sparked an unprecedented backlash towards the game’s governing physique.
Hockey Canada’s governance and transparency had been subsequently referred to as into query, resulting in a collection of parliamentary hearings.
Hockey Canada officers testified to parliamentarians in June 2022 the group had “strongly inspired” — however not mandated — the 19 gamers on the London gala communicate to its personal third-party investigators.
The fallout was swift.
The federal authorities froze funding, whereas a number of company sponsors paused assist. Hockey Canada reopened its third-party investigation in July 2022, including that participant participation was now obligatory.
The Canadian Press was first to report later that month Hockey Canada maintained a fund that drew on minor hockey membership charges to pay for uninsured liabilities, together with sexual assault and abuse claims.
After a string of disastrous Parliament Hill appearances in Ottawa, Hockey Canada president and CEO Scott Smith left the group in October 2022, the identical day all the board of administrators resigned.
London police, in the meantime, closed an preliminary investigation in February 2019 with out submitting prices, however reopened the case in 2022.
A lead investigator wrote in authorized paperwork filed with Ontario courts in December 2022 there have been grounds to consider a lady was sexually assaulted by 5 gamers on the junior workforce.
The NHL additionally launched its personal investigation, which deputy commissioner Invoice Daly stated in June had concluded.
Together with Hockey Canada and the London police, that made for 3 separate probes into an incident that has solid a protracted shadow over the game in Canada.
Hockey Canada stated in November the findings of its impartial third-party report are below enchantment.
All gamers from the 2018 junior workforce have been excluded from worldwide occasions.
A Hockey Canada official advised a parliamentary committee throughout one among its 2022 hearings that the group had paid out $7.6 million in 9 settlements associated to sexual abuse and assault since 1989, not together with the London incident.
Smith took on the extra title of CEO from the retiring Tom Renney on July 1, 2022, within the midst of the scandal, however was out three months later amid blistering requires his resignation.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Jan. 28, 2024.
With information from hockey author Joshua Clipperton.
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