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Published 15:23 02 Sep 2021 GMT
USA Gymnastics is proposing a $425 million settlement with hundreds of women who said they were sexually abused by ex-team doctor Larry Nassar, their coach, or another individual in connection with the sport, USA Today Sports reports.
Convicted sex offender Larry Nassar was accused of sexual abuse by hundreds of gymnasts during his 18 years as team doctor of the United States women's national gymnastics team.
USA Gymnastics was forced to file for bankruptcy in 2018 as it failed to recover from the resulting sexual abuse scandal.
The $425 million settlement proposal was filed on Tuesday, August 31, in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana as part of a reorganization plan to allow USA Gymnastics to emerge from bankruptcy.
It is nearly double the original amount of $215 million proposed by the organization in January 2020.
USA Gymnastics said in a statement regarding the proposal: "After extensive discussions, this plan has been jointly proposed by USA Gymnastics and the Committee, and it is supported by many of the involved insurers.
"We anticipate that this plan will be confirmed later this year and greatly appreciate all parties’ efforts to get to this point."
Currently, there are not enough funds for the settlement and the agreement of insurance carriers still needs to be obtained. If that does not happen, though, it will not go through.
"What this isn’t is a settlement. This is a proposed resolution that the Survivors Committee supports," said John Manly, an attorney who represents a number of the survivors, including Simone Biles.
He added: "Let me be clear, it’s not funded. There’s a lot of work left to be done before this is over."
The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee recently urged insurance carriers to commit to funding the settlement.
The USOPC said in a statement: "Under the new plan, the USOPC will contribute substantially to the compensation of the survivors.
"There are, unfortunately, some insurance carriers that continue to withhold support for this plan, and we urge these carriers – in the strongest terms – to join the rest of the parties in supporting the plan’s fair resolution for the victims and survivors of abuse."
If the survivors were to accept the settlement, they would have to agree to end future claims against USA Gymnastics, the USOPC, and Bela and Martha Karolyi.
