The story of Larry Nassar and his abuses against hundreds of girls and young women, many of them renowned gymnasts, among whom was the multiple Olympic and world champion Simone Biles, shook sports in the United States and the news spread around the world.
The medical coordinator of the women’s Olympic gymnastics team for 20 years who over time became a serial sexual predator who attacked more than 300 athletes was sentenced to die in prison after being convicted in a trial that had the plea of 156 victims.
In recent days, it was confirmed that 100 victims abused by Nassar will be compensated by the United States Department of Justice. According to the Wall Street Journal, this measure was taken by the government agency after reaching the conclusion that the FBI did not take seriously the reports presented to the entity about the possible abuse of star athletes perpetrated by the doctor.
The American media indicated that the Federal Bureau of Investigation agreement was reached in the fall of last year and was accepted in principle by women and girls who had filed administrative damage lawsuits against the agency in 2022. Despite the information, The process has not yet been concluded, according to reported sources.
In this way, this million-dollar agreement, for which each victim would receive the sum of 100 million dollars, will resolve the last remaining legal claims against the different institutions that failed in their responses to the complaints against Nassar and will have to pay a price. estimated total of about one billion dollars.
The WSJ obtained details from the report indicating that FBI agents in Indianapolis were unsure whether the allegations against Nassar represented a possible federal crime. In that sense, the meetings of the officials with authorities from USA Gymnastics, the entity in charge of caring for the gymnasts who suffered abuse, were not adequately reported either. More than a year (14 months) passed after personnel from the US Gymnastics Federation approached the FBI and during that period, the doctor continued treating his patients.
It must be remembered that among the plaintiffs, in addition to Biles, were also other figures from US artistic gymnastics such as McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman. Nassar’s story of abuse exploded in the media in the final days of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games thanks to the investigation of the Indianapolis Star newspaper through the testimony of a woman.
Rachel Denhollander was the first to speak about Nassar’s abuse in a statement that served as a basis for the rest of the abused gymnasts to face their testimonies, in a process that forever changed the internal outlook on the discipline in the United States.
In 2021, Simone Biles herself, along with Raisman, Nichols and Maroney, spoke before the Senate and pointed out against the FBI’s deficient investigation: “It was like serving a pedophile innocent children on a silver platter,” was one of the most impactful phrases. rescued from the testimonies.
Four of the more than 150 athletes who were attacked by the abuser appeared at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing investigating the agency’s mishandling of the case against Nassar. “I sit before you today to raise my voice so that no girl has to endure what I, the athletes at this table and the countless others suffer unnecessarily under the guise of Nassar’s medical treatment,” said Simone, a few weeks after having participated in the Tokyo Olympic Games where she suffered problems with her mental health after suffering “twisties” in the competition, a potentially dangerous phenomenon that causes gymnasts to lose their sense of direction when they are in the air.
Through tears, Biles completed her testimony and reaffirmed her request for justice in which she targeted all those involved in the system. “To be clear, I blame Larry Nassar but also the entire system that allowed and perpetrated the abuse. USA Gymnastics, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee knew that I was being abused by their team doctor. After telling my full story of abuse to the FBI in the summer of 2015, the FBI not only failed to report my abuse, but when they finally documented my report 17 months later, they made completely false claims about what I said.”
Beyond the payment that the Department of Justice would be willing to make, Nassar’s case has already provided compensation for hundreds of victims from other groups. In 2018, the University of Michigan agreed to compensation of $500 million in a “global settlement” with lawyers representing 332 survivors of the abuser who was chief medical officer of USA Gymnastics, another of the entities that was in the eye of the storm. and had to compensate Nassar’s victims in about USD 380 million.
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