A whistleblower who went public with accusations of sexual assault against a St. Louis chess coach now says that she’s facing retaliation.
Last year, chess grandmaster Jennifer Shahade, a two-time National Women’s Chess Champion, publicly accused Alejandro Ramirez of assaulting her and engaging in sexual misconduct with younger players.
Shahade’s allegations ultimately led to her being “constructively discharged” from her position as director of women’s programs for the St. Louis-based U.S. Chess Federation. In a lawsuit filed July 16, Shahade said the discharge followed a “sham mediation” and public statements by chess officials to discredit her as a whistleblower.
Ramirez, who has denied the allegations against him, resigned from coaching positions with the St. Louis Chess Club and St. Louis University.
The case was taken up on Monday’s Legal Roundtable edition of St. Louis on the Air.
“Certainly, there's been a lot of publications made by the Chess Federation that are directly rebutting allegations that she makes, and these are all played out in the public sphere,” said attorney Erin Lueker, a former public defender for St. Louis County and a prosecuting attorney for the State of Missouri. “In her case, the question was whether or not these are actually false rumors.”
Along with Lueker, the panel discussion featured Eric Banks, a former city counselor for St. Louis, and Mark Smith, former associate vice chancellor and dean at Washington University.
In addition to the latest scandal to hit U.S. Chess, the panel discussed an unusual fine against an assistant city counselor and the latest updates in the case of a St. Louis officer who crashed a police SUV into Bar:PM.
To hear the full discussion and analysis by the Legal Roundtable, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Podcast or by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Roshae Hemmings is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
