One of the largest of its kind in Justice Department history, the settlement ends the last major legal case in an ugly chapter of Olympic sports in this country. Nassar’s alleged abuse has occurred over the decades at international events, including the Olympics, as well as at Michigan State University, where Nassar works, and at local gymnastics centers in Michigan and around the country.
Once well-respected in elite gymnastics circles for his association with the United States team, Nassar has carried out hundreds of bouts over the years, often under medical cover. Members of several US Olympic gymnastics teams, including Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney, have been accused of abuse by Nassar.
Nassar, 60, is serving an effective life sentence on federal convictions related to child pornography, as well as state convictions for sexually assaulting patients under his care.
A 2021 Justice Department inspector general report found that FBI agents in the Indianapolis and Los Angeles field offices failed to adequately respond to the 2015 and 2016 indictments against Nassar.
In Indianapolis, the report found, a senior FBI official overseeing the investigation was applying for a job with the U.S. Olympic Committee at the time and later lied to the inspector general’s office about the situation. In Los Angeles, the report said, agents failed to alert local authorities anywhere Nassar continued to treat young gymnasts while under investigation.
More than 70 girls and women later filed lawsuits alleging that Nassar assaulted them between 2015 and when he was arrested in November 2016.
FBI Director Christopher A. Wray has publicly apologized to Nassar’s victims, and the bureau has fired an agent from the Indianapolis office who was involved in the case.
In a news release Tuesday, the department said it had agreed to pay $138.7 million to settle 139 legal claims related to the handling of Nassar’s case.
“For decades, Lawrence Nassar abused his power. These charges should have been taken seriously from the beginning,” Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer said in a statement.
Tuesday’s announcement brought the total amount paid by institutions to Nasser’s abuse victims to more than $1 billion. In the year In 2018, the state of Michigan agreed to pay $500 million to more than 330 victims. In the year In 2021, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee agreed to pay $380 million to hundreds of Nassar’s victims.
John Manley, an attorney for one of the more than 100 women who participated in the Justice Department settlement, said in an interview that the settlement would give clients closure but still fall short of the criminal charges they want to see against the agents.
“For many of these families, the fact that the main law enforcement agency in the United States knew their child was being treated for child rape and did nothing for the better part of two years is always troubling,” Manley said.
In the year In 2021, after victims including Bills and Maroney gave emotional testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Justice Department agreed to review its decision not to indict two FBI agents from the Indianapolis office who were accused of making false statements. But the review was concluded by the department again deciding not to charge the agents.
The Justice Department has previously agreed to pay the same amount to victims of mass shootings in which federal agencies have been sued for negligence.
Last year, the Justice Department agreed to pay $144.5 million to the families of 26 people killed in a 2017 mass shooting in Texas to settle failures in the federal government’s gun background check system. In the year By 2021, the department expects to have 40 survivors and in 2018 in Parkland, Fla. A $130 million settlement from a high school shooting attack found the FBI failed to investigate tips that preceded the massacre.