Major League Soccer has fined the Portland Timbers $25,000 for failing to disclose domestic violence allegations against now-former Peruvian midfielder Andy Polo. The league, which employed an outside legal firm to conduct the investigation, released a five-page summary of its findings on Tuesday.
The allegations of domestic violence stemmed from an incident that happened on May 23, 2021, and were made by Polo's former partner and the mother of his children, Génessis Alarcón, on a Peruvian television show in February. She said that Polo had physically abused her and also that the Timbers had pressured her to decline to pursue criminal charges in regards to the incident a year prior.
A source told The Athletic at the time that the Timbers did not disclose Polo's incident to the league office, which they had been required to do under guidelines set about in the league's constitution.
Following the allegations, Portland suspended Polo and then subsequently terminated his contract.
The investigation found no evidence of a cover-up in Portland and pinned the failure to report Polo's incident as the result of "a lack of understanding of the MLS Constitution, rather than an intent to conceal the incident."
In regards to whether the club pressured Alarcón to decline to pursue legal action against Polo, the investigation found that "the Timbers did not intend to induce, and did not induce, Ms. Alarcón to refrain from pursuing criminal charges."
"Although the investigation found no evidence that the Timbers organization influenced Ms. Alarcón's decision to press charges and that they did not attempt to conceal the incident," the league said in a statement, "prompt reporting is critical to League oversight, addressing potential misconduct, and ensuring that players and their families are referred to appropriate resources, including potentially the League’s Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Program … MLS takes allegations of domestic violence extremely seriously and will not tolerate such behavior in our League."
The club's $25,000 fine would be donated to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the league said, via MLS WORKS, its social responsibility arm.
Proskauer Rose LLP, the firm that conducted the investigation, performed nine witness interviews during the course of the investigation — Timbers employees, Alarcón, Polo and their attorneys. They reviewed "text messages, emails and other relevant documents" along with nine audio recordings made by Alarcón.
The Timbers, the report says, cooperated fully in the investigation and provided access to all witnesses and documents requested.
(Photo: Abbie Parr / Getty Images)
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MLS fines Portland Timbers $25,000 for failing to report Andy Polo incident
