Former OSU wrestler: 'Jim Jordan called me crying, groveling' to help him with sex abuse scandal 'coverup'

A former wrestling captain at Ohio State University this week told the Ohio House Civil Justice Committee that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) asked him to help cover up the sex abuse scandal that occurred while Jordan was an OSU wrestling coach.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that former OSU wrestler Adam DiSabato told the committee this week that multiple coaches on the team, including Jordan, knew that former OSU doctor Richard Strauss was sexually abusing wrestlers and did nothing to stop it.

DiSabato also told the committee that Jordan asked him to contradict statements made by his own brother, Michael DiSabato, who in 2018 said that Jordan and other coaches willfully ignored Strauss's sexual misconduct.

"Jim Jordan called me crying, groveling... begging me to go against my brother," he told the committee. "That’s the kind of coverup that’s going on there."

The hearing at the House Civil Justice Committee this week was to debate a bill that would provide a path for Strauss's victims at OSU to sue the university for damages.

DiSabato encouraged state lawmakers to pass the bill that he said would offer a chance at justice for abuse victims.

"Are you guys going to do what you’re voted to do?” he said, according to the Plain Dealer. “That’s the only reason I’m here."

Jordan has repeatedly denied knowing of Strauss's abuse while serving as wrestling coach, despite the testimony of multiple former wrestlers who say otherwise.