COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The father and former coach of Olympic champion runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen has been charged with abusing one of his other children, police said Monday, escalating an ongoing conflict involving one of Norway's most prominent sporting families.
Ingebrigtsen won the 1,500-meter race at the Tokyo Olympics and has emerged as one of Europe's biggest track-and-field stars after being coached since childhood by his father Gjert Ingebrigtsen. But he and two of his brothers — who are also top-level runners — previously accused their father of using “physical violence and threats as part of our upbringing."
Norwegian police launched an investigation into Gjert Ingebrigtsen after that, and on Monday charged him with having physically and mentally abused another of his younger children. The indictment, which has been seen by The Associated Press, said the alleged abuse took place between 2018 and early 2022 and included threats, coercion and hitting his child in the face with a towel on at least one occasion.
Monday’s charges did not relate to the 23-year-old Jakob Ingebrigtsen or his older brothers Henrik and Filip, the three prominent runners. Police did not disclose the identity of the child.
If found guilty, Gjert Ingebrigtsen faces up to six years in prison. No date for a trial has been set.
Terese Braut Våge, head of police in southeastern Norway, told The Associated Press that cases involving five other alleged victims had been dismissed “on the basis of the evidence” and in one case because of a statute of limitations.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen's lawyer John Christian Elden said his 58-year-old client “disagrees with the presentation of the events” and “consequently does not admit criminal guilt.”
Gjert Ingebrigtsen was named the Norwegian sports coach of the year in 2018 after Jakob, Henrik and Filip all won medals at major events that year. The family had also been the subject of a TV documentary series, “Team Ingebregtsen,” that was aired by public broadcaster NRK for five season between 2016-21 leading up to the Tokyo Olympics.
But on Oct. 19 last year, the three brothers published an op-ed in Norwegian newspaper VG detailing their father's behavior and said he “had been very aggressive and controlling” and violent and abusive during their childhoods.
They said “the same aggression and physical punishment struck again” two years ago toward someone else, and that was “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
The three brothers broke ties with their father and Gjert Ingebrigtsen has since started coaching another Norwegian runner, Narve Gilje Nordås. However, Tore Øvrebø, the head of the organization that oversees Olympic sports in Norway, said Ingebrigtsen would not be allowed to be part of the Norwegian staff at the Paris Games this summer. He was also denied an accreditation for the 2023 world championships in Budapest, where Jakob won gold in the 5,000 meters.
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
FILE - From left, brothers Filip Ingebrigtsen, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, and Henrik Ingebrigtsen, of Norway, react after competing in the men's 5000 meter final at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, on Sept. 30, 2019. Father of Ingebrigtsen brothers is charged with abuse of “one of his minor children,” lawyer says. (AP Photo/Nick Didlick, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Sen. Bob Menendez said Thursday that his wife has breast cancer and will require a mastectomy, a revelation made just as the presentation of evidence began at his New York bribery trial.
The New Jersey Democrat said he was revealing his wife's health crisis at her request after repeated inquiries from the media.
“We are, of course, concerned about the seriousness and advanced stage of the disease,” the senator said in a statement.
He added: “She will require follow up surgery and possibly radiation treatment. We hope and pray for the best results.”
Previously, lawyers for Nadine Menendez had requested her trial on charges in the case be delayed after she had been diagnosed with a serious health issue. Judge Sidney H. Stein had postponed her trial until at least July. She has pleaded not guilty. The couple began dating in 2018 and married two years later.
Menendez issued the statement in an email as opening statements were completed and the presentation of evidence began at his trial in Manhattan federal court with testimony from an FBI agent who led the raid on the Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, home he shared with his wife.
The agent, Aristotelis Kougemitros, described the June 2022 raid when gold bars and more than $400,000 in cash were discovered by a team of agents at the home.
He said the agents also recovered cellphones and jewelry among 52 items seized from the home.
The senator is on trial this week with two of three businessmen who have been charged along with him. The senator has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent of Egypt. A third businessman has pleaded guilty in the case and will testify against the others.
Lawyers for New Jersey real estate developer Fred Daibes and businessman Wael Hana spoke to jurors Thursday, a day after a prosecutor and Menendez’s lawyer gave opening statements.
Attorney Lawrence Lustberg, representing Hana, said prosecutors had built their case against his client on “innocent acts.”
He said Hana was longtime friends since 2009 with Nadine Menendez and that Hana and Nadine Menendez had exchanged expensive gifts over the years. He said there was never a time when Hana either directly to Bob Menendez or indirectly through Nadine Menendez gave a bribe in exchange for official acts by the senator.
Attorney Cesar De Castro, representing Daibes, told jurors the case was about relationships and prosecutors were trying to exploit facts about a three-decade friendship between the senator and Daibes to claim crimes occurred. He said they will conclude his client was not guilty.
On Wednesday, attorney Avi Weitzman, representing Bob Menendez, told jurors his client was unaware that his spouse had accepted gifts from the three businessmen and did not know about cash and gold bars hidden in a closet at their home.
The statement came after an opening statement by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Pomerantz in which the prosecutor repeatedly highlighted gold bars and cash found in the home.
Menendez has held public office continuously since 1986, serving as a state legislator before 14 years as a U.S. congressman. In 2006, then-Gov. Jon Corzine appointed Menendez to the Senate seat he vacated when he became governor.
The trial, which began Monday, is projected to last up to two months.
Catalini reported from Trenton, New Jersey.
FILE - Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife Nadine Menendez arrive at the federal courthouse in New York, Sept. 27, 2023. Menendez said Thursday, May 16, 2024, that his wife has breast cancer and will require a mastectomy, a revelation made just as the presentation of evidence began at his New York bribery trial. (AP Photo/Jeenah Moon, File)
In this courtroom sketch, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, seated far left, looks at his defense attorney Avi Weitzman give his opening statement during his trial Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in New York. Judge Sidney Stein is presiding. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Pomerantz gives her opening statement while gesturing to Robert Menendez, far left, as Judge Sidney Stein presides in Manhattan federal court, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., leaves Manhattan federal court after the second day of jury selection in his trial, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in New York. The Democrat has pleaded not guilty to bribery, extortion, fraud and obstruction of justice, along with acting as a foreign agent of Egypt. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
