USA Gymnastics has proposed a payment structure to provide victims of former team doctor Larry Nassar with amounts ranging from $82,550 to $1.25 million.
According to ESPN, the plan was included in a legal filing that included additional details of the proposed $215 million settlement for survivors of Larry Nassar’s sexual assaults. Attorneys for some survivors, however, have indicated that the proposal is not enough.
The tiered structure for payouts offers the 517 Nassar survivors an amount of money depending on where the abuse took place.
- Women who were sexually abused at the Olympics, world championships, national team training camps or other national team events are entitled to $1,250,757.
- Non-elite gymnasts abused at a USA Gymnastics-sanctioned event are entitled to $508,670.
- Gymnasts abused at non-USA Gymnastics locations are entitled to $174,401.
- Individuals with “derivative claims” are entitled to $82,550.
Among the survivors able to claim the largest payout are Simone Biles and several members of the 2012 gold-medal-winning Olympic team. In all, 66 survivors are eligible for the largest settlement award.
ESPN reports that by accepting the settlement, survivors release groups like the U.S. Olympic Committee and Paralympic Committee, and individuals like former USA Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny and former national team directors Bela and Martha Karolyi from further claims.
The survivors have until May 8 to approve the proposed settlement. If they choose to reject it, however, survivors are free to pursue additional lawsuits.
USA Gymnastics filed for bankruptcy in December 2018 among a torrent of lawsuits, alleging that the organization had fostered a culture of abuse.
Lawyers for the survivors expressed skepticism of the proposed settlement and tiered payout system.
“What USA Gymnastics is saying: If we place a known pedophile in that gym and that individual rapes your child, then your child is worth $82,000,” attorney John Manly, who represents more than 180 people with current claims against USA Gymnastics, told the Orange County Register. ‘My client Rachael Denhollander asked what is a little girl worth. Apparently if you’re raped by the national team doctor, you’re worth $82,000 to USA Gymnastics.”
“This is the most disgusting, reprehensible, vile view of children I can imagine,” Manly said. "And for (USA Gymnastics) to put this out there and act like it is a constructive step shows how out of touch they are."
