(NewsNation) — The Justice Department settled 139 administrative claims stemming from allegations of sexual abuse committed by former physician and USA Gymnastics official Larry Nassar, the agency announced Tuesday.
The settlement agreements — which have already been approved by the agency — amount to a total of $138.7 million for the more than 100 people who say the FBI mishandled allegations of sexual assault against Nassar in 2015 and 2016, according to the DOJ,
Justice Department officials say Nassar, who worked at Michigan State University and was also the team doctor for USA Gymnastics, sexually abused hundreds of people under the guise of performing medical treatments on them. He was arrested by the state of Michigan in 2016.
Investigators said at the time they had found images of child sex abuse and charged Nassar federally. He was sentenced to 60 years for child pornography crimes.
After a seven-day hearing in 2018, where more than 150 women and girls recounted being abused by Nassar, he was sentenced to another 40 to 175 years in prison by a Michigan judge who told him she “just signed your death warrant.”
The Office of the Inspector General for the DOJ issued a report in July 2021 that was critical of certain aspects of the FBI’s response to allegations against Nassar.
“For decades, Lawrence Nassar abused his position, betraying the trust of those under his care and medical supervision while skirting accountability,” acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer said in a statement. “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.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray addressed the allegations against Nassar at a Senate hearing in 2021.
“I’m sorry that so many different people let you down, over and over again,” Wray said. “And I’m especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed.”
In 2018, Michigan State University agreed to pay $500 million to those who were assaulted after facing accusations of its own that it missed chances to stop Nassar. USA Gymnastics, as well as the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, also agreed to a $380 million settlement.
When combined with other settlements, the $138.7 million announced Tuesday means $1 billion has now been set aside by various organizations to compensate hundreds of women who said Nassar assaulted them, the Associated Press reported.
Mick Grewal, an attorney who represented 44 people in claims against the government, said the $1 billion in overall settlements speaks to “the travesty that occurred,” according to the AP.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.