The Department of Justice revealed on Tuesday that it will distribute close to $139 million to victims in response to 139 “administrative claims arising from allegations of sexual abuse” committed by the disgraced ex-USA gymnastics physician Larry Nassar, according to a statement.
“For decades, Lawrence Nassar abused his position, betraying the trust of those under his care and medical supervision while skirting accountability,” Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer said in a statement, via ABC News. The settlement will resolve the mishandling of the highly-publicized case by the FBI, which failed to properly investigate the allegations of abuse as they first surfaced.
Nassar was effectively sentenced to life in prison in 2018 following a string of guilty pleas and convictions on child pornography and sexual assault charges. In addition to Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and McKayla Maroney, the doctor abused an estimated 300 young athletes under the guise of medical treatment during his time as a team doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University.
“These allegations should have been taken seriously from the outset,” Mizer added. “While these settlements won’t undo the harm Nassar inflicted, our hope is that they will help give the victims of his crimes some of the critical support they need to continue healing.”
In 2021, Biles, Riasman, Maroney, and Maggie Nichols appeared on Capitol Hill to testify about the FBI’s mismanaged investigation into Nassar. In 2022, it was reported that the victims who said they were assaulted by the physician were seeking over $1 billion from the FBI, according to Associated Press.
“If the FBI had simply done its job, Nassar would have been stopped before he ever had the chance to abuse hundreds of girls, including me,” former University of Michigan gymnast Samantha Roy said at the time. USA Gymnastics, based in Indianapolis, reportedly informed local FBI agents about Nassar’s abuse of three gymnasts in 2015, but a formal investigation was never opened. And when agents in Los Angeles started to investigate him in 2016, no federal or state authorities in Michigan were alerted.
An investigation at Michigan State University in Fall 2016 ultimately led to Nassar’s arrest. “I’m especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in 2021. “And that’s inexcusable.”