USATF Board Member Jim Estes Suing USATF & Max Siegel for Negligence & Defamation

September 7, 2023

Last week, USATF board member Jim Estes filed a lawsuit in Marion County, Ind., against USATF, its CEO Max Siegel, and its COO Renee Washington. Estes is alleging negligence by USATF and Washington and defamation per se and invasion of privacy by Siegel.

All of this stems from the bidding process for the 2024 US Olympic Marathon Trials, which were awarded to Orlando in November and will be staged on February 3. On the same day USATF awarded the Trials to Orlando, Siegel wrote a letter to the Chattanooga Sports Commission — the only other city bidding for the Trials — to let them know they had been disqualified from the bidding process due to conflicts of interest involving Estes, who sits on USATF’s board as the Long Distance Running representative and had accepted a role as a consultant for Chattanooga’s bid. Lets Run