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A court-appointed committee representing victims of the sexual abuse of USA Gymnastics and former national team doctor Lawrence G. Nassar presented a joint plan Tuesday that would allow the federation to emerge from bankruptcy and include a $425 million settlement with those in the United States. abused sport.
The plan, submitted to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana, would end lawsuits against the federation involving Nassar and reimburse as many as 500 gymnasts, including Olympians like Simone Biles and Aly Raisman, who participated in the lawsuit. those who say they have been harmed by someone in sports.
Many athletes harassed by Nassar in the name of medical treatment have been mediating with the federation since 2018, when USA Gymnastics filed for bankruptcy protection to settle a growing number of claims and indemnify victims.
The $425 million offer in the current plan is nearly double the amount that USA Gymnastics has offered as a deal that it offers to give $215 million to Nassar victims in early 2020. This plan was quickly rejected by many Nassar survivors as too lowly, and was also rejected by the court, in part because third parties such as the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee did not provide funding.
To formalize the current plan, all insurers involved in the deal, including the company that insured former women’s national team coordinators Martha and Bela Karolyi, must agree to fund the $425 million payment. The bankruptcy court will also need to approve the plan, and individual victims will vote on the plan. A majority of claimants will have to accept the plan, and that majority must make up at least two-thirds of the monetary settlement.
In an emailed statement Tuesday, USA Gymnastics expressed confidence in the proposal.
“After extensive discussion, this plan was jointly proposed by USA Gymnastics and the Committee,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement, citing the sexual abuse survivors’ committee that participated in the negotiations. The federation said most insurers also support it. “We anticipate that this plan will be approved within this year, and we greatly appreciate the efforts of all parties to get to this point.”
The current settlement offer is far less than the $500 million that Michigan State University has agreed to pay out to the more than 300 girls and women who have been abused by longtime college staff Nassar. But Rachael Denhollander, a member of the survivors committee who was harassed by Nassar and helped negotiate the proposal submitted to the court on Tuesday, said the current plan is more than just money.
“I will say that survivors deserve help with medical care and therapy is not cheap, so I think they deserve compensation,” he said. “But it will also be in everyone’s interest to see real change and reform in the organisation. This is what we hoped for. Change was our goal.”
Denhollander said the survivors committee only accepted the plan after USA Gymnastics passed a list of provisions aimed at reforming the organization and making the sport safer for its athletes. Calls for the establishment of a truth and justice commission that will examine how Nassar has been able to operate in the organization for so long and abuse so many athletes, and ensure ways to prevent such abuses and enable it to happen again.
“The non-monetary provisions of this plan are absolutely key,” Denhollander said. “It is reform and change for the next generation. It would be groundbreaking if USAG really worked with survivors to complete these provisions.”
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