The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it will pay nearly $139 million to survivors of Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse as part of a settlement stemming from the FBI’s mishandling of the initial allegations.
USA TODAY Sports and The Wall Street Journal first reported last week that a settlement had been agreed upon and would stretch into nine figures. The Department of Justice specified in a news release that an amount of $138.7 million will be distributed to a group of 139 victims − working out to roughly $1 million per claimant, on average.
“These allegations should have been taken seriously from the outset,” acting associate attorney general Benjamin Mizer said in a statement. “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.”
Olympic champions Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman were among the more than 100 victims who filed claims with the Department of Justice in 2022, roughly a year after the release of a report by the department’s inspector general. The report found that FBI…
