Justice Department in settlement talks to pay around $100 million to Larry Nassar victims, sources say
The Justice Department is far along in settlement talks with victims of former sports doctor Larry Nassar, and the final number is likely to be close to $100 million, two people familiar with the negotiations told NBC News. But they say the settlement has not been finalized.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the deal and the expected settlement amount.
The Justice Department found that the FBI failed to properly act when the athletes raised concerns about Nassar. In July 2021, the top watchdog at the Justice Department released a report saying the FBI’s Indianapolis field office made "fundamental errors" and failed to notify other FBI offices or state or local authorities.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department said Wednesday that it "can’t confirm the WSJ’s reporting at this time."
More than 100 women collectively sought more than $1 billion from the federal government for the FBI’s failure to stop Nassar.
Michigan State University, where Nassar worked, agreed to pay $500 million in 2018 to women and girls who say he assaulted them, and USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee reached a $380 million settlement with victims in 2021.
Nassar pleaded guilty in 2017 to abusing 10 of the more than 265 patients who said they had been molested. Survivors included USA Gymnastics national team members McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Sabrina Vega, Ashton Locklear, Kyla Ross, Simone Biles and Alyssa Baumann.
He also separately pleaded guilty to possessing child sex abuse images. Nassar is serving up to 175 years in prison.
In Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's 2021 report, a special agent in charge of the Indianapolis field office was accused of instructing the FBI to release a false statement to the media in early 2017 saying his office had "expeditiously responded" to the allegations about Nassar. Members of the media had questioned why the FBI failed to act from July 2015, when USA Gymnastics first raised the allegations, to September 2016, when police searched Nassar's home.
The report said the FBI's office had interviewed only one of the three victims who had come forward at the time and were willing to speak with investigators. It said Nassar continued to abuse his patients until local authorities arrested him in November 2016.
