Report: US Justice Department to Pay $100M to Larry Nassar Sexual Assault Survivors
April 17, 2024
A group of survivors from the sexual assault scandal involving former United States gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar will receive a financial payout from the United States.
Per Louise Radnofsky and Sadie Gurman of the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Justice Department has agreed to pay more than $100 million to a group of 100 survivors stemming from the FBI's mishandling of the allegations levied against Nassar.
In 2021, Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz issued a 119-page report that said the FBI's field office in Indianapolis failed to respond "with the utmost seriousness and urgency that the allegations deserved and required" when the allegations were brought against Nassar.
The report went on to say that the FBI made "fundamental errors" when it did eventually respond, including failing to document a witness interview alleging sexual assault until more than one year after the interview took place and the document was written with only one page of "limited notes and memory" and didn't include consultation of the co-interviewer.
FBI director Christopher Wray issued an apology to Nassar's victims before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in September 2021 for the agency's mishandling of the investigation.
An initial group of 13 women filed negligence claims against the FBI seeking $130 million in compensation in April 2022. The list eventually grew to include at least 90 women.
Radnofsky and Gurman noted the payout will be distributed to more than 100 victims who filed legal claims against the FBI, including Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman.
In December 2021, USA Gymnastics reached a $380 million settlement with a group of gymnasts who were abused by Nassar.
Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison after pleading guilty to seven counts of criminal sexual conduct in 2018. That came after he was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on charges of child pornography.
The 60-year-old was the team doctor for the U.S. women's gymnastics team from 1996 to 2014.