The Justice Department agreed to pay more than $100 million to a group of Larry Nassar’s victims after the FBI’s mishandling of the sexual abuse allegations against the former USA Gymnastics doctor, according to multiple reports.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report the news of the payout.
It has been almost three years since a report from the Justice Department inspector general said FBI officials in Indianapolis failed to respond to abuse allegations against Nassar “with the utmost seriousness and urgency.”
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United States Olympic gymnast Simone Biles testifies during a Senate Judiciary hearing about the inspector general’s report on the FBI’s handling of the Larry Nassar investigation on Capitol Hill Sept. 15, 2021, in Washington. (Graeme Jennings/Pool via AP)
The money will be distributed to more than 100 victims who all filed claims against the FBI after the inspector general’s report was released in 2021. Among those gymnasts are Olympians Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman.
The inspector general’s report concluded FBI agents had “conducted limited follow-up” after first learning about Nassar’s abuse. In turn, Nassar’s conviction, a life sentence for sexual assault and child pornography charges, took “a delay of over a year.”
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The FBI’s slow action was criticized by gymnasts, including Maroney, during a congressional hearing following the release of the report.
“After telling my entire story of abuse to the FBI in the summer of 2015, not only did the FBI not report my abuse, but when they eventually documented my report 17 months later, they made entirely false claims about what I said,” she stated at the time.
United States gymnasts, from left, Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman and Maggie Nichols arrive for a Senate Judiciary hearing about the inspector general’s report on the FBI’s handling of the Larry Nassar investigation on Capitol Hill Sept. 15, 2021, in Washington. (Graeme Jennings/Pool via AP)
“What is the point of reporting abuse if our own FBI agents are going to take it upon themselves to bury that report in the drawer?”
FBI Director Christopher Wray said during a 2021 Senate hearing it was “inexcusable” how agents “had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed.”
Nassar was found to have sexually abused more than 500 women during his time as the doctor for USA Gymnastics’ women’s national team and at Michigan State, where he was an osteopathic physician.
The school ended up paying $500 million to survivors of Nassar’s abuse, and USA Gymnastics had a separate settlement that paid out $380 million.
Former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar listens during the sentencing phase in Eaton County Circuit Court Jan. 31, 2018, in Charlotte, Mich. (Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)
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If the $100 million from the Justice Department becomes final, abuse settlements from Nassar’s crimes will total almost $1 billion.
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