Jon Little launched his legal career in 2007, when he was hired by the County Attorney’s Office in Flagstaff, Arizona. He moved to Indianapolis a year later to focus on cases involving athletes who were sexually abused by coaches from a variety of U.S. Olympic sports.

His groundbreaking work led to the creation of the U.S. Olympic Committee’s first SafeSport program in 2010.

However, Jon is now disillusioned with SafeSport.

“I’ve angered some pretty powerful people because I advise sexually abused athletes to bypass SafeSport and file police reports,” he said. “People need to understand that SafeSport exists to limit the US Olympic Committee and its affiliates’ criminal and civil liability  for sexual abuse.”

In a September 2022 interview, Jon told Salon that calling SafeSport about a coach committing abuse is like calling the Vatican to report a priest.

“I say that because SafeSport took no action against two abusive coaches even though their cases were referred to them by USA Badminton,” Jon said. “I also embarrassed USA Gymnastics when I gave the original tip about their sexual abuse files to the Indianapolis Star.”

Jon is especially proud that he is the only attorney to speak out about the “absolute greed” of the attorneys who, he says, hijacked his case against USA Gymnastics.

“In 2019, USA Gymnastics listed $84 million in assets, which is being eaten up by attorneys fes. It’s outrageous because that money should be available for victims,” he said.

Jon took on USA Fencing, too, because “they knew a coach had pleaded guilty to a sexual assault but they still allowed him to coach. And they didn’t discipline another coach who hit a fencer over the head with a wine bottle. So, my goal is to stop all forms of abuse by holding coaches and institutions liable.”

Jon is an experienced runner who competed in the 2008 Olympic Trials and ran professionally for Seattle-based Brooks Running.

He received his law degree in 2007 from the University of Missouri - Kansas City.

As an undergraduate, Jon was a varsity runner at Rutgers and Indiana universities. But his life changed when he learned that his college girlfriend was sexually abused by her swimming coach, setting the stage for Jon’s lifelong crusade against abuse in sports.

“When I began to understand that I was violated by my swim coach, I wanted an attorney who truly understood high level athletics. With Jon’s background as an athlete, I knew he was someone I could trust to handle my case. It’s amazing what we have been able to accomplish.” – Brooke Taflinger, Big 10 Champion, 400 IM record holder, first USA Swimming lawsuit plaintiff

Jon is a pioneering trial attorney who has found great success battling institutions: he is not afraid to take a case to trial and has won millions of dollars for his clients.

But not all rewards are financial.

“I was able to get U.S. Citizenship for an athlete in less than a week before the Olympic Trials,” he said. “That’s why I want all athletes, especially track athletes, to call me with their problems.”