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8 months ago
23
The Justice Department has agreed to pay $100 million to 100 victims of the former Team USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar who sexually abused them.
FBI agents failed to take the reports of Nassar's potential abuse of the star athletes seriously, the Justice Department has determined.
The total price of payouts over the liability of Nassar's actions has now been brought to over $1billion, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Michigan State University agreed to settle claims with hundreds of victims for $500million in 2018, after complaints about Nassar's abuse were dismissed and buried several times.
Star gymnasts such as Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman all spoke out against their former doctor.
The Justice Department has agreed to pay $100 million to 100 victims of the former Team USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar who sexually abused them
The elite gymnasts were first identified in the summer of 2015 as having been potentially abused by Nassar, 60.
They are amongst dozens of other patients who were abused by the former gymnastics team doctor even after the FBI was alerted to the gymnasts' concerns.
Nassar was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years to a maximum of 175 years in prison for the sexual assault of minors in January, 2018.
Upon release, Nassar would have to register as a Michigan sex offender. However, his federal and state sentences are consecutive - meaning he will essentially die in prison.
Nassar apologized for his years of abuse, saying that the strong effects that his victims' statements had on him 'pales in comparison' to the suffering he inflicted on them.
During victim impact statements in 2018, several athletes testified that during Nassar's decades of sexual abuse they had told adults what was happening, including coaches and athletic trainers, but that it went unreported.
More than 150 victims spoke or submitted statements during an extraordinary seven-day hearing in court more than four years ago.
In June 2022 Nassar had his final appeal rejected by the Michigan Supreme Court, which was filed on the basis he was 'treated unfairly'.
Nassar admitted to sexually assaulting the athletes when he worked at Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians. Pictured: Nassar with McKayla Maroney
In June 2022 Nassar had his final appeal rejected by the Michigan Supreme Court, which was filed on the basis he was 'treated unfairly'
Nassar is serving up to 175 years at the Florida prison for abusing some of the nation's top athletes
The sexual abuser was stabbed 10 times at the United States Penitentiary in Coleman, Florida, on July 9, 2023.
The attack has been deemed an 'unwitnessed' event, however, because there are no cameras inside the prison cell, according to an insider. Only common areas and corridors and are monitored by video.
USA Gymnastics filed for bankruptcy in 2018, after Olympic bronze medalist Jamie Dantzscher had filed a lawsuit and additional claims were filed on behalf of a growing number of Nassar's victims.
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