Justice Dept to pay $100 million to victims of ex-U.S. Gymnastics team doctor

The Justice Department is to pay $100 million to settle claims against the FBI for mishandling the investigation into sexual abuse by former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The newspaper said the settlement involves 100 victims of Nassar, who was convicted in late 2017 and early 2018 of sexually assaulting hundreds of athletes and is serving up to 175 years in prison.

Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and other US gymnasts filed a $1 billion claim against the FBI in June 2022 over its failure to adequately respond to reports of sexual abuse by Nassar.

The Journal said the settlement had been reached several months ago and has been accepted in principle by Nassar's victims but has not been finalized.

Citing a report by the Justice Department's inspector general, the newspaper said there were multiple failings in the FBI's handling of complaints about Nassar made by USA Gymnastics to the FBI's Indianapolis field office in July 2015.

The failure to act on the complaints allowed Nassar to continue sexually assaulting dozens of victims before his 2016 arrest.

Nassar worked as a sports medicine doctor at USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University for more than two decades.

FBI director Christopher Wray acknowledged the bureau's failures during testimony before a Senate committee in September 2021, saying they were "inexcusable."

Addressing Nassar's victims, Wray said: "I'm especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed."

Nassar's victims reached a $380 million settlement with USA Gymnastics in 2021, one of the largest ever recorded for victims of sex abuse.

USA Gymnastics filed for bankruptcy in 2018 after a tidal wave of allegations against Nassar swamped the organization.

Michigan State University reached a $500 million settlement with hundreds of Nassar's victims in 2018.

Nassar was stabbed by another inmate in July of last year at the prison in Florida where he is serving his sentence but recovered from his wounds.

© Agence France-Presse