The Olympic Committee promised an answer. Then it fell silent.
In May this year, Federico Pignatelli della Leonessa sent an open letter to the Olympic Committee of Slovenia about the honorary membership awarded to lawyer Tjaša Andrée Prosenc. The committee replied that it would examine the matter. Half a year has passed since then, and there is still no answer.
This spring, the Olympic Committee of Slovenia (OKS) awarded honorary membership to a woman for the first time in its history. The recipient was lawyer Tjaša Andrée Prosenc, a former figure skater and longstanding member of the OKS Executive Board. She thereby received one of the highest symbolic honours the institution awards.
Federico Pignatelli della Leonessa followed the news from New York. He knows Prosenc better than most of those who voted for her honorary membership. For many years, she was his family's lawyer: she represented him and his mother, Doris Mayer, in matters concerning the building at Wolfova 1 in Ljubljana and other property returned to the Mayer family through denationalisation. The post-war authorities had confiscated this property from Federico's grandfather, who was arrested, tortured in prison and eventually murdered.
His allegations against his former lawyer
Pignatelli accuses Prosenc of abusing her clients' trust instead of protecting their interests. According to him, documents were forged and unlawful changes were made to the court register of Eurocapital, the company that owns the building at Wolfova 1. The methods varied, but in his view the aim was always the same: to appropriate the property.
His mother played a central role. Doris Mayer had lived abroad for decades and no longer understood Slovenian or Slovenian legal procedures. It was allegedly through her that Prosenc carried out transactions that left mother and son without part of their property, while also allowing the deadlines within which the family could still effectively protect its rights to expire.
By the time Pignatelli discovered what had happened, it was too late for a criminal prosecution in Slovenia. The offence was time-barred. “How can someone take action against something they do not even know has happened?” he asks. In his view, legislation that works this way protects perpetrators and tells them that theft and fraud pay, as long as they remain hidden for long enough.
In 2018, Doris Mayer filed a criminal complaint against Prosenc in Austria, as Delo reported at the time. In Slovenia, mother and son reported her to the Bar Association. According to Pignatelli, the association did nothing, and he has therefore been pursuing legal action against it for several years.
Today, Prosenc has an apartment in the building at Wolfova 1, while her son has commercial premises there where he runs his business. Pignatelli is convinced that both properties came into their possession unlawfully.
A letter, a promise, silence
In his open letter, Pignatelli drew the OKS leadership's attention to the person they had honoured. Honorary membership is supposed to stand for integrity, honour, honesty and a lifetime contribution to society. By awarding it to her, he believes, they have undermined that message.
“I formally informed the Olympic Committee of my allegations against Tjaša Andrée Prosenc: fraud and the forgery of documents. I clearly stated that someone who has done such things should not hold an honorary title,” says Pignatelli. “Months ago, they replied that they would examine the matter. Since then, no one has been in touch. The Olympic Committee is a respected institution representing the country and its athletes around the world. When it remains silent instead of confronting documented facts, it undermines the very ethical standards it is supposed to uphold.”
Sport and law share the same foundations
Pignatelli points out that an honorary title from an Olympic organisation means more than recognition for service in sporting roles: through it, the institution also grants a person moral legitimacy. That is precisely why it should take a broader view before making its decision.
“Sport and law share the same foundation: rules, fairness and unwavering integrity,” he says. “In my view, Prosenc has failed in both areas. She has not respected the Olympic spirit, and she has undermined her professional duty as a lawyer by turning her legal knowledge against the clients she swore to protect. Honouring someone with such a past makes a mockery of everything the Olympic movement stands for. If the committee truly wants to set a moral example, it must revoke the appointment immediately.”
What do we reward as a society?
Pignatelli's story goes beyond a single lawyer. It raises the question of how someone can remain without effective legal protection for years while a person with strong connections in political and judicial circles accumulates prestige and public honours.
When Slovenia chose democracy and membership of the European Union, Pignatelli believed in the Slovenian rule of law. Today, he asks a question that the Olympic Committee should also answer: which values do we reward as a society, and does integrity still mean anything in Slovenia?
When the OKS responds, we will report on it.
Watch Federico Pignatelli's full statement in the video on the Hiša pravice channel.