U.S. Soccer has concluded an independent investigation into the dramatic affair involving Gregg Berhalter, his wife and the couple’s former close friends Claudio and Danielle Reyna.
The investigation, conducted by Alston & Bird, has concluded that Berhalter and his wife Rosalind were forthcoming about the details of a 1992 incident of domestic violence, and that the firm had no reason to believe any further incidents had taken place between the couple.
The couple eventually reconciled, married and had four children. They are still together today.
Of Berhalter, whose contract as U.S. men’s national team head coach expired at the end of 2022, U.S. Soccer said: “Given the investigators’ conclusion that there is no legal impediment to employing him, Gregg Berhalter remains a candidate to serve as head coach of the men’s national team.”
On the other hand, the report took a much dimmer view of the Reynas, saying the couple did not cooperate with the investigation and have been actively meddling into U.S. Soccer and the U.S. men’s national team for years — mostly looking to benefit their son Gio Reyna.
The Berhalter-Reyna affair exploded into public view in January, when Danielle Reyna admitted she had leaked information about the 1992 domestic violence incident to U.S. Soccer as retaliation for Berhalter not playing her son more at the World Cup, and then revealing details of the player’s poor attitude in Qatar that nearly led to him being sent home.
Amid the extremely public and messy affair, U.S. Soccer brought in Alston & Bird to conduct an independent investigation into the domestic violence incident, as well as any possible wrongdoing by the Reynas.
The investigation noted it did not consider the Reynas’ behavior to be blackmail, nor did it violate U.S. Soccer policies.
But the results were still stunning, painting an ugly picture of one of the most prominent families in American soccer history. Here are several incidents involving the Reynas documented within the report.