The United States Department of Justice will pay almost 140 million dollars to the victims of Larry Nassaramong them Olympic gymnasts such as Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman or world champion Maggie Nichols, for the FBI’s action in response to complaints of sexual abuse by several athletes in 2015 and 2016.
This was announced this Tuesday by the US Department of Justice itself in a statement, in which it reported that pawill grant 138.7 million dollars to resolve the 139 administrative lawsuits filed by the victims “alleging that the FBI did not conduct an adequate investigation of the conduct” of the doctor, who worked for the national gymnastics team and at the University of Michigan.
“For decades, Lawrence Nassar abused his position, betraying the trust of those under his care and medical supervision and evading accountability,” said Acting Deputy Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, who stressed that “these allegations should have been taken seriously from the beginning”, and he hoped that, although “these agreements They will not remedy the damage that Nassar inflictedour hope is that they will help give the victims of their crimes some of the critical support they need to continue healing“.
Over nearly two decades and until 2016, when he was arrested, Nassar sexually abused hundreds of women and girls under the pretext of carrying out medical treatments.
The US Gymnastics Federation informed the FBI in 2013 that three gymnasts had reported being sexually assaulted by Nassar, but the agency decided not to conduct a formal investigation. Four years later, The doctor pleaded guilty to abusing 10 of the more than 265 athletes who reported abuses.
The Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General issued a report in July 2021 criticizing certain aspects of the FBI’s response and investigation into the allegations against Nassar. “If the FBI had done its job, Nassar would have been arrested before he had the chance to abuse hundreds of girls.including me,” former gymnast Samantha Roy said in 2022.
Nassar, 60, He served as doctor for the United States gymnastics team for 18 years and served at the University of Michigan. His victims include prominent athletes such as Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Sabrina Vega, Ashton Locklear, Kyla Ross and Alyssa Baumann.
Michigan State University, in whose clinic Nassar worked, already agreed in 2018 to pay 500 million dollars for women and girls who reported sexual abuse. For their part, the federation and the United States Olympic and Paralympic committees reached a conciliation in 2021 with the victims for 380 million dollars.
