In one of the largest settlements of its kind in Justice Department history, the government agreed to pay nearly $139 million to victims of former Team USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar for the department's failure to investigate Nassar's sexual abuse sooner, the Washington Post reports. The announcement confirms earlier reports of a deal but ups the cost from what was known then. It brings to a close the last major legal case over Nassar's abuses, which occurred over many years at international events including the Olympics, and at Michigan State University. Nassar, 60, is serving an effective life sentence for federal convictions relating to possession of child pornography, as well as state convictions for sexual assaults of patients under his care.
A 2021 Justice Department inspector general’s report found that FBI agents in the Indianapolis and Los Angeles field offices failed to adequately respond to allegations against Nassar raised in 2015 and 2016. More than 70 girls and women later alleged in court filings that Nassar assaulted them between 2015 and when he was arrested in November 2016. Tuesday’s announcement brings the total sum paid out by institutions to Nassar’s victims over his abuses to more than $1 billion. In 2018, Michigan State agreed to pay $500 million to more than 330 victims. And in 2021, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee agreed to pay $380 million to hundreds of Nassar’s victims. “For many of these families, knowing that the premier law enforcement agency in the U.S. knew their child was being treated by a child molester and did nothing for the better part of two years will always trouble them,” said John Manly, attorney for more than 100 of the women involved with the Justice Department settlement.