US Justice Dept to pay $139 mn to USA Gymnastics sex abuse victims

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00:00$139 million to compensate 139 victims.

00:06By agreeing to settle in court, the U.S. Justice Department acknowledged it had mishandled

00:11sexual abuse allegations against Larry Nassar.

00:15While these settlements won't undo the harm Nassar inflicted, our hope is that they will

00:20help give the victims of his crimes some of the critical support they need to continue

00:24healing.

00:26During more than two decades, Larry Nassar worked as a sports doctor for Michigan State

00:31University and the U.S. gymnastics team.

00:34Under the guise of treatment, he sexually abused hundreds of athletes, most of whom

00:39were underage at the time.

00:41Nassar was convicted in 2017 and in 2018, and will spend the rest of his days behind

00:47bars.

00:48Sir, you do not deserve to walk outside of a prison ever again.

00:56I'm giving you 175 years, which is 2100 months.

01:02But that wasn't the end of the story.

01:05In 2021, a bombshell report criticized the FBI's handling of the case.

01:10It alleged the agency was alerted to Nassar's abuses as early as 2015, but failed to act

01:17on the information.

01:18The FBI's director later apologized for the mistake, but the harm was done, Nassar was

01:24allowed to roam free and continued to prey on young athletes until his eventual arrest

01:29in 2016.

01:30Accountability with the Justice Department has been a long time in coming.

01:34Their failures allowed over 100 children to continue being abused.

01:38Tuesday's settlement brings to $1 billion the total amount paid in compensation to the

01:44victims of Larry Nassar in what's considered the largest sexual abuse scandal in sports

01:50history.

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