On February 1, 1994, Harding’s ex-husband accepted a plea bargain in exchange for his testimony against Harding. Harding avoided further prosecution and a possible jail sentence by pleading guilty on March 16 to hindering the investigation of the attack. She received three years probation, 500 hours of community service and a $160,000 fine. She maintained her innocence of and disgust at the attack, and got a tattoo of an angel on her back, allegedly as a symbol of her innocence. In her 2008 autobiography, The Tonya Tapes, Harding said that she wanted to call the FBI to reveal what she knew, but refused when Gillooly allegedly threatened her with death following a gunpoint gang rape by Gillooly and two other men she did not know. Gillooly, who subsequently changed his name to Jeff Stone, called the allegations “utterly ridiculous.”^[3]

On June 30, 1994, after conducting its own investigation of the attack, the USFSA stripped Harding of her 1994 title and banned her for life from participating in USFSA-run events as either a skater or a coach. The USFSA concluded that Harding knew about the attack before it happened and displayed “a clear disregard for fairness, good sportsmanship and ethical behavior.”

Regardless of her involvement, this incident completely shattered her career. And Tonya went on to continue her bad girl status. First a scandalous sex tape, then later she chucked a hubcap at former boyfriend Darren Silver. Nice.