Survivors who were sexually abused by the disgraced former team doctor Larry Nassar have reached a settlement of $380 million (£288 million) with USA Gymnastics, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee and their insurers.
The five-year legal wrangle is at an end after a settlement was confirmed during a hearing in a federal bankruptcy court in Indianapolis on Monday.
“This settlement is the result of the bravery of hundreds of survivors who, despite legal obstacles, long odds and the best corporate legal talent money can buy, refused to be silent. The power of their story eventually won the day,” said John Manly, lawyer for the plaintiffs.
Olympic gold medallists Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney were among the hundreds of women to make claims. The settlement will cover their costs. Biles, Raisman and Maroney all testified about the abuse they suffered at Nassar’s hands at a Senate hearing this year.
The high-profile and highly decorated athletes criticised USA Gymnastics and Olympic officials for failing to stop Nassar, and found fault with the FBI’s troubled investigations into the former doctor’s actions.
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The first woman to publicly accuse Nassar of abuse, Rachael Denhollander, spoke of her relief at the end of the fight for compensation.
“This chapter is finally closed. Now the hard work of reform and rebuilding can begin. Whether or not justice comes, and change is made, depends on what happens next,” Denhollander, 37, tweeted.
“Justice has been done insofar as it can be, and it is good that we rejoice in that. But remember that tomorrow everyone wakes up still living the consequences. Don’t lose that reality in the midst of sober rejoicing in the truth.”
