The swimming star who claims to bring people together through open water swimming is not doing much work lately.
Bryan Mineo is the mercurial proprietor of One With the Ocean (OWO), a non-profit focused on teaching people to swim in open water.
He’s received all sorts of positive press from folks like Bonnie Tsui, Beach Magazine, and others.
Here is part of the profile Bonnie wrote on OWO.
For the nonprofit One With the Ocean (OWO), the world’s largest open-water swim group, it was just another Thursday night "SLOG," or what Mineo, OWO’s founder, described as the swim version of the Swedish fitness trend of "plogging": jogging plus plocka upp (picking up) trash. A random sampling of OWO’s collection this year includes dental floss, cigarette butts, rugs, broken chairs, discarded clothing, sex toys, and countless plastic items—bottle caps, buckets, bags. I looked around at the happy beachgoers bathed in this golden-hour light, seemingly incapable of chucking anything like a dildo or a doughnut wrapper into the sand. But humans will do as humans do, even at the beach.
"So what we try to do," Mineo said cheerfully, "is clean up after them."
As the sun descended over a mercury-hued Pacific, setting the beach’s bluffs aglow, we tumbled out of the water, each of us by turns chatty and euphoric. (Picking up trash on the beach was the focus, but if we saw some in the water, we grabbed it, too.) Mineo, an open-water swim coach, wasn’t swimming that night. From his perch atop a surfboard, he was acting as safety spotter, monitoring the group’s whereabouts, cheering swimmers on, and providing a resting place for anyone who needed it. But he was smiling just the same. Forty-five minutes later, we came away with the flush of exercise, a sense of communal accomplishment, and a dozen inflatable neon swim buoys filled with garbage.
Meanwhile, OWO board member, Kari Stoever, called OWO insignificant, not worthy of press.
“I am still perplexed as to why you are going after this 'small' fish.” Kari told me through LinkedIn.
Maybe, it’s scrutiny she doesn’t like.
This small fish non-profit seems to make him a lot of money. In a 2021 deposition, he claimed to make up to $150,000 per year.
Later, his attorney, Raj Matani, claimed it was closer $90,000 per year.
Raj later threatened to sue me.
The problem is that the non-profit barely raises $100,000, so it seems like most donations go directly to Mineo.
Kari told me that Bryan works very hard, so any money he’s made he has earned.
I was surprised then to learn that Bryan recently proclaimed in a hearing that he has been working about three hours per day for the last few months.
NOW HE CLAIMS HIS INCOME HAS REDUCED, WHICH WE DISPUTE, BUT WE WILL ADDRESS THAT AT THE SUPPORT HEARING. BUT IF YOU LOOK AT HIS PAY STUBS THAT WE PROVIDED AS OUR EXHIBIT 2, PAY STUBS FROM FEBRUARY THROUGH JUNE OF THIS YEAR, HE WAS WORKING AN AVERAGE OF 140 HOURS PER MONTH. NOW, IN THE MIDST OF HIS DISSOLUTION WHERE HE IS SEEKING TO REDUCE HIS SUPPORT OBLIGATION, HE IS NOW APPARENTLY WORKING LESS THAN PART-TIME. IN THE MONTH OF JULY, HE WORKED A TOTAL OF 72 HOURS. THAT'S ABOUT THREE HOURS A DAY…AND BASED ON HIS OWN EXHIBIT D, FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER THIS YEAR, HE NOW CLAIMS TO BE WORKING A TOTAL OF 30 HOURS FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER, SO ABOUT AN HOUR PER DAY IF YOU AVERAGE IT OUT OVER THE 30 DAYS.
I asked Raj about this, but he did not respond.
Bryan doesn’t seem to have any trouble getting work. For instance, he is the new global swim coach at Nike Swim.
Nike Swim is relatively tiny, according to swimming professionals I spoke with, but it is still Nike so “tiny” is relative.
I reached out to Nike but their media departement did not respond to an email for comment.
He also jets off to the Cayman’s to conduct swim lessons.
With nearly 2 decades as an open water swim coach, Bryan Mineo, aka The Swim Mechanic, has worked with thousands of swimmers of all levels, from beginner to Olympian. From dialing in stroke efficiency to beginner, intermediate and advanced swim workouts this series of programmed classes mean swimmers will have the opportunity to focus on form, technique and open water nuances to make remarkable progress over the over the dedicated week of swim. Bryan’s greatest passion is sharing the experience of the ocean with others, helping them to find comfort and confidence in the water.
That’s a plum gig: Nike global swim coach, swim instructor in the Cayman’s, and non-profit proprietor all at one hour per day.
That said, he may be struggling because Bryan was having trouble paying all his child support.
AND IF YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE ANY SYMPATHY FOR EITHER ONE OF THESE PARENTS IN TERMS OF THEIR FINANCIAL SITUATION, IT SHOULD BE THE MOM WHO HE STOPPED PAYING QUARTERLY SUPPORT TO.
Post-Script
Check out the previous articles in this series: Article 1, Article 2, Article 3, Article 4. Article 5, Article 6, Article 7, and Article 8.
Check out the new fundraiser to help investigate more non-profits which don’t receive enough scrutiny.