State will pay $1 billion in compensation to victims harassed by gymnastics team doctor

The US Department of Justice announced that it will pay more than $138 million in compensation to the victims harassed by Larry Nassar, the former doctor of the Olympic Gymnastics Team and Michigan State University. In total, the amount to be paid to all victims exceeded $1 billion.

The Justice Department announced in a written statement that Nassar agreed to pay $138.7 million to victims and resolved legal claims related to the failure of the investigation that could have brought the convicted child molester to justice sooner and prevented dozens of abuses.

The man sitting next to her on the train took her obscene photos and sent them to his colleagues

With this agreement, the Ministry concluded the latest case regarding the victimization of Nassar, who was sentenced to more than 300 years in prison for sexual abuse crimes, at international sports events, including the Olympics, and at the university where he worked, lasting for more than ten years.

Deputy Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer said in his statement: “These allegations should have been taken seriously from the beginning.” said.

REACHED OVER 1 BILLION DOLLARS

With the figure decided by the Ministry of Justice, the amount to be paid to hundreds of victims in harassment cases, in which the state of Michigan agreed to pay $500 million in 2018 and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee agreed to pay $380 million in 2021, has exceeded $1 billion with the latest decision.

FBI CONDUCTED FALSE INVESTIGATION

In its report on the subject last year, the Department of Justice stated that the FBI, which did not take seriously the first complaints made by the gymnasts in July 2015, conducted a faulty investigation and paved the way for the harassment that took place after that date.

LARRY NASSAR CASE

Although sexual abuse complaints against Larry Nassar, the former doctor of the US Olympic Gymnastics Team and Michigan State University, first began in 2015, it took months for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation to begin and the abusive doctor was arrested only in November 2016.

While Nassar was sentenced to more than 300 years in prison for sexual abuse crimes in 2018, in the same year, as a result of the lawsuit filed by more than 300 women and girls who were harassed at Michigan State University, the university agreed to pay 500 million dollars to the plaintiffs.

On December 14, 2021, hundreds of women who were subjected to sexual abuse by Nassar reached an agreement with the US Gymnastics Federation for compensation of $ 380 million after a 5-year legal struggle.

FBI Director Christopher Wray stated that he was “deeply saddened” by the delays in Nassar’s trial and the victimization it caused.

Many athletes who were exposed to Nassar’s sexual abuse demanded millions of dollars in compensation from the FBI on June 8, 2022, on the grounds that they did not take the necessary precautions.

Source: TELE1