Larry Nassar Sexual Assault Survivors to Get $138.7M From US Justice Department

The United States Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it has settled 139 administrative claims for a total of $138.7 million to be given to survivors of sexual abuse committed by former United States gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar.

As noted by Ed White of the Associated Press, the claims stem from allegations that the FBI was "grossly mishandling allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016, a critical time gap that allowed the sports doctor to continue to prey on victims before his arrest."

The Justice Department's statement read in part:

"Over the course of nearly two decades and ending in 2016 when he was arrested by the State of Michigan, Nassar sexually abused hundreds of victims under the guise of performing medical treatments. These settlements will resolve administrative claims against the United States alleging that the FBI failed to conduct an adequate investigation of Nassar's conduct. In July 2021, the Department's Office of the Inspector General issued a report critical of certain aspects of the FBI's response to, and investigation of, allegations against Nassar."

That aforementioned 119-page report was from Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz, who stated that the FBI Indianapolis Field Office failed to address claims against Nassar "with the utmost seriousness and urgency that the allegations deserved and required." The report also claimed that the FBI made "fundamental errors" in its handling of the case.

In May 2022, Evan Perez of CNN reported on the timeline in 2015 and 2016 regarding the allegations, specifically the time gap between the first notification to the FBI and when the organization began to take "meaningful investigative steps."

"From July 2015, when USA Gymnastics officials first notified the FBI about abuse allegations against Nassar, and September 2016, when the FBI finally began to take meaningful investigative steps, at least 70 athletes were abused by him, the inspector general reported," Perez wrote.

In September 2016, the Indianapolis Star first publicized accounts of abuse that survivors suffered from Nassar. Former gymnast Rachael Denhollander, who spoke with the Indianapolis Star, was the first person to file a criminal complaint against Nassar, doing so with MSU police.

Over $1 billion has now been dedicated to survivors of Larry Nassar's assaults. More than 265 patients have come forward and said Nassar abused them, per NBC News.

Michigan State University, which employed Nassar from 1996 to 2016 as an osteopathic physician and associate professor at MSU's Department of Family and Community Medicine, reached a $500 million settlement with survivors. USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee made a $380 million settlement.

Nassar, who pled guilty to seven counts of criminal sexual conduct in 2018, has been sentenced to up to 175 years in prison. That ruling occurred after he was previously sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on charges of child pornography.