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# Exclusive: Ex-head golf coach files age discrimination lawsuit against TCU
By **STEVEN JOHNSON**
Updated July 01, 2024 3:14 PM
A disagreement that had been brewing for more than a year is now a lawsuit that extends far beyond age discrimination and includes an allegation of rape.
On Monday, former TCU men’s golf coach  filed an age discrimination lawsuit against the university where he worked since the 1980s. The civil case was filed by Dallas-based attorney .
The crux of the 30-page lawsuit is that Montigel’s contract was not renewed in the spring of 2023 because he was 68.
Other allegations in the lawsuit include charges that TCU athletic director Jeremiah  Donati was retaliatory against Montigel, and endorsed “an ‘Animal House’ atmosphere.”
The lawsuit alleges Donati’s department “does not care about discrimination or sexual harassment.” Examples of this include Montigel alleging that:
“At the NCAA basketball tournament in Denver in March of 2023, a Frog Club fundraiser, was accused of raping a female co-worker who woke up in his hotel bed not knowing how she got there. She reported the incident to the Colorado Police. Both Donati and (TCU associate athletic director for special projects) Michael Levy were present at the Denver tournament when this improper sexual harassment occurred.”
Donati did not respond to a request for comment about this suit.
The spokesperson for the TCU athletic department did not respond to request for comment.
According to people familiar with the alleged incident in March of 2023, a member of the  TCU athletics administration was accused of misconduct and was immediately fired. According to the Denver Police Department, there is no report involving any member of the TCU staff in that window when TCU played in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
This the most damning allegation in the lawsuit. Other allegations include:
▪ “A leader in the athletic department — who was married — engaged in sexual relations with the wife of a highly successful TCU coach, leading to that coach leaving TCU.”
▪ “A senior athletic department official was caught in a press box in a compromising position with a female who was senior associate athletic director of student services.”
▪ “At the Big 12 basketball tournament in March of 2023 in Kansas City, Missouri, a high-level member of Donati’s staff got falling down drunk, became belligerent with hotel staff because he lost his room key, and the hotel staff called security.
“This person urinated in his pants, was completely out of it, and had to be carried back to his room. These on the job drunken episodes were not uncommon for that person. Donati was present at the Kansas City tournament and took no disciplinary action against that  person who reported directly to Donati.”
Montigel was effectively told he would not be returning to TCU as men’s golf coach after the conclusion of the 2022-23 season. He spent the 2023-24 season as the associate head coach at the University of California-Davis.
Montigel was 68 when he left TCU. At the time of his exit TCU was still one of the better  NCAA men’s golf programs.
His exit from the athletic department coincided with the departures of other significant coaches, including football coach Gary Patterson, baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle, volleyball coach Jill Kramer and track and field coach Daryl Anderson.
Montigel did not want to retire. The two sides discussed potential compensation packages but no agreement was reached.
“I am pursuing the lawsuit on behalf of all older employees who have faced age discrimination in the workplace. I filed this lawsuit to hold TCU accountable for its actions,” Montigel said in a statement. “My passion is coaching students about golf and life. I have lots of gas left in my tank.
“Donati assumed that just because I was 68 that I could no longer do my job — nothing could be further from the truth. It’s not easy to sue a school you love, but I want to shine a light on age discrimination and retaliation in TCU’s athletic department.”
This story was originally published July 1, 2024, 2:46 PM.
**MAC ENGEL**
817-390-7760
Mac Engel is an award-winning columnist who has covered sports since the dawn of man;  Cowboys, TCU, Stars, Rangers, Mavericks, etc. Olympics. Movies. Concerts. Books. He  combines dry wit with 1st-person reporting to complement an annoying personality.
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# Financial Advisor Says Fidelity Fired Him for Reporting Securities Violations
MAY 8, 2024 
After registered financial advisor Michael Maeker raised concerns that his employer, Fidelity
Investments, was running afoul of securities laws by pressuring advisors to eschew fiduciary
responsibilities and instead invest clients’ money to benefit the company’s bottom line, he was
fired.
Maeker alleges in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Dallas Monday that recorded conversations with
his branch manager and other Fidelity executives verify his claims that financial advisors were
routinely pressured to act not in the best interest of their clients but of the company.
“Maeker formally blew the whistle and reported this unlawful practice to various individuals at
Fidelity through multiple channels,” the suit alleges. “Rather than disciplining the executives and
managers who violated Reg BI (and other securities laws and regulations), Fidelity retaliated
against and terminated Maeker’s employment to send a message to its FAs to keep quiet.
After Maeker filed his [Sarbanes-Oxley] complaint, Fidelity belatedly stopped violating Reg. BI. 9.
Fidelity’s illegal retaliation against, and wrongful termination of, Maeker caused him millions in
damages, emotional distress, and reputational harm.”
After 26 years working as a financial advisor with a “spotless” record, Fidelity’s termination
of Maeker made it “extremely difficult” to find employment in the industry.
He ended up taking a job in the Home Depot paint department to support his family.
Fidelity issued a statement to The Texas Lawbook denying the allegations and vowing to vigorously
defend itself against Maeker’s claims.
“Mr. Maeker’s complaint was already reviewed and dismissed by an OSHA investigator who
concluded, among other things, that Mr. Maeker would have been removed from his role due to his
misconduct regardless of his purported whistleblowing activity,” the statement reads. “In other
words, Fidelity did not retaliate against him.”
According to the lawsuit, an investigator in the U.S. Department of Labor initially dismissed the
complaint Maeker filed in October 2022. In September 2023 Maeker appealed that finding and a
final decision hadn’t been issued by the time the lawsuit was filed.
Rogge Dunn of Rogge Dunn Group, who represents Maeker, told The Lawbook on Wednesday that
his client wasn’t the only Fidelity financial advisor who was pressured to violate securities laws.
“I expect other financial advisors to come forward and blow the whistle on Fidelity,” he said. “It took courage for Maeker to speak out and he has paid the ultimate price for doing the right thing.”
Fidelity offers its clients three tiers of financial investment products, according to the complaint,
referred to as Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3. Tier 1 investments generate the lowest revenues for Fidelity,
Tier 2 generates the second highest revenues for Fidelity and Tier 3 products generate the highest
revenues for the company.
“Fidelity pressured its branch managers to pressure Fidelity’s financial advisors to persuade
investors to place their assets into Tier 3 investments that generated higher revenues for Fidelity,”
the suit alleges. “A significant portion of Fidelity’s branch managers’ compensation was based on
how much investors’ assets were placed into financial products that generated higher revenues for
Fidelity. Further, Fidelity circulated charts ranking the branch managers in a region based on the
amount of investors’ assets in Tier 3.”
Those branch managers would then pressure financial advisors to steer investments into Tier
3, Maeker told the court. The lawsuit alleges that Fidelity’s Dallas branch manager, John Schiavone
— who is not a defendant in the lawsuit — had “continuously pressured Maeker to push clients into
unsuitable or ill-advised, high fee generating financial investments that would make Fidelity more
money — regardless of investors’ best interest.”
The lawsuit also serves as a transcript for the conversations Maeker alleges he recorded that
support claims. In one, Shiavone chastises Maeker for having directed only $2.5 million of client
assets into Tier 3 and said he “would’ve thrown [Maeker] out.”
**MR. MAEKER:** “How — how would you throw me out?”
**MR. SCHIAVONE:** “I don’t know. I — I would figure out a way to. I don’t how that was ever allowed.”
Maeker detailed what he called a “carrot and stick approach” that was used to incentivize financial
advisors to push the Tier 3 products. For starters, financial advisors were paid 10 times the
commissions they received for placing assets in Tier 3 compared to Tier 1.
“Second, this economic incentive also included awarding FAs Fidelity stock, if they put up big Tier 3
numbers,” according to the suit. “The sticks included never ending direct and indirect pressure
that an FA was hurting her/his career at Fidelity would suffer and could be fired if they did not get
‘on board’ with pushing clients into Tier 3.”
Maeker alleges he told numerous people at Fidelity that he believed Schiavone was engaging in
illegal conduct but nothing was done.
One Dec. 16, 2022, he was fired, purportedly for violating a written policy.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Ada Brown.
Maeker is also represented by Alec E. Pedigo of Rogge Dunn Group.
Fidelity’s counsel had not filed an appearance as of Wednesday.
The case number is 3:24-cv-01078.
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