Larry Nassar Victims Get $138M from the Government After Botched FBI Investigation
RENA LAVERTY/AFP via Getty Images
The victims of disgraced former Team USA Doctor Larry Nassar will receive a $138.7 million payout from the U.S. Government after the FBI failed to conduct a thorough investigation.
The victims, numbering 139, will receive nearly $1 million each as a result of the FBI's failure to intervene once they received information that would have allowed them to stop the abuse.
“For decades, Lawrence Nassar abused his position, betraying the trust of those under his care and medical supervision while skirting accountability,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer.
The FBI exposed covering for a serial pedophile pic.twitter.com/VglhR29KNO
— E (@ElijahSchaffer) September 15, 2021
“These allegations should have been taken seriously from the outset. While these settlements won’t undo the harm Nassar inflicted, our hope is that they will help give the victims of his crimes some of the critical support they need to continue healing.”
Simone Biles at Senate hearing on FBI's handling of Nassar investigation:
"I blame Larry Nassar, and I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse. USA Gymnastics and US Olympic & Paralympic Committee knew that I was abused by their official team doctor" pic.twitter.com/Ghm3ueLwFM
— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 15, 2021
The FBI is accused of waiting a year before contacting any of Nassar's victims, during which time many more women were abused. The FBI agents directly involved – Michael Langeman and Jay Aboott – were not criminally charged. According to the FBI, Langeman was fired in the summer of 2021, and Abbott retired.
The $138.7 million payout is not the first settlement Nassar victims have received. In 2018, Michigan State University, where Nassar practiced, agreed to pay $500 million to the victims. In 2021, USA Gymnastics agreed to pay $380 million to the athletes.
Larry Nassar sits in court listening to statements before being sentenced by Judge Janice Cunningham for three counts of criminal sexual assault in Eaton County Circuit Court on February 5, 2018, in Charlotte, Michigan. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Nassar is in prison for the rest of his life. In 2023, an inmate stabbed Nassar repeatedly after the former doctor allegedly claimed he wanted to watch “the girls” at Wimbledon on television.
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