After five years of legal proceedings, the many gymnasts who described sexual abuse by Larry Nassar will receive compensation. USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee have reached a $380 million settlement with the victims of the former national team physician.
“This chapter is finally closed,” said Rachael Denhollander, one of the first women to file public complaints against Nassar. “Now the hard work of reform and rebuilding can begin. Whether or not justice comes and change is made, depends on what happens next.
The $380 million settlement is the biggest ever recorded for sexual abuse victims, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The settlement was finally reached after an insurer that had been holding out, TIG Insurance Company, ratified the settlement at a hearing in a federal bankruptcy court in Indianapolis on October 13.
Nassar’s victims voted in favor of the agreement in November. The October 13 settlement brings the litigation to an end.
The settlement includes $34 million directly from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. The payments will be made to hundreds of athletes who alleged abuse by Nassar, such as Simone Biles, Aly Raisman & McKayla Maroney.
In addition to making the monetary payment, U.S. Gymnastics will be required to have victims of sexual abuse assume position in it.
This saga began when Olympic bronze medalist Jamie Dantzscher filed a lawsuit in 2016 against USA Gymnastics and the USOPC over Nassar’s abuse.
Dantzscher’s lawsuit triggered a flood of additional abuse allegations against Nassar over the following years. Several top officials at U.S. Gymnastics and USOPC resigned, including the whole board of USA Gymnastics.
Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexually penetrating several young women while performing medical procedures.
The FBI’s Office of the Inspector General released a report finding the FBI “mishandled” a 2015 inquiry into the allegations against Nassar, which enabled him to abuse dozens more victims prior to his arrest in 2016.
