The Justice Department is in advanced talks with victims of Larry Nassar to pay around $100 million over the FBI’s mishandling of allegations against the former USA Gymnastics team doctor, bringing the entire settlement to almost $1 billion. A report which has until now been kept under wraps found that the FBI office grossly mishandled the allegations brought forward regarding the abuse from Larry Nassar, former U.S.A. gymnastics team doctor.
Larry Nassar served as the team doctor for the U.S. women’s national gymnastics team for 18 years as well as the team doctor as Michigan State. In this time, he abused hundreds of young women.
More than 100 women sought compensation from the federal government for the FBI’s failure to stop Nassar’s abuse, which started in 2015 and continued until his arrest in 2016. Many of his victims were young female patients at the forefront of their sport.
The report was conducted in 2021 and also criticized the special agent in charge of the Indianapolis office for instructing agents to release a false statement to the media about their handling of the Nassar case. The Justice Department found the FBI made “fundamental errors” when handling the concerns of athletes in this case.
Nassar pleaded guilty to abusing 10 victims and possessing child sex abuse images in 2017, and is currently serving up to 175 years in prison for his crimes.
Michigan State University partnered with sports organizations have already paid out $850 million to the victims of Nassar’s abuse, many of which include extremely high-profile gymnasts. The settlement that is being finalized now by the Justice Department would include $100 million more for the victims.
Some of the most prominent victims of Nassar’s abuse include McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Sabrina Vega, Ashton Locklear, Kyla Ross, Simone Biles, and Alyssa Baumann.
The delay in investigating Nassar’s abuse led to a significant delay in his conviction, according to the inspector general report. In fact, the FBI waited months to investigate Nassar, despite multiple abuse claims being filed.
The settlement will be distributed to more than 100 victims who filed legal claims against the FBI in 2022 following the release of the inspector general report.
The settlement brings the total liability payouts in legal cases brought by Nassar’s abuse victims to nearly $1 billion.
