Nassar survivors grill USA Gymnastics in federal court
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Several victims of Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse were in federal court Thursday in Indianapolis.
USA Gymnastics had a bankruptcy hearing where the women grilled the chief financial office of the U.S. governing body for the sport.
The attorney for USA Gymnastics (USAG) acknowledged the survivors and said USA Gymnastics believes bankruptcy court is the best place to see what money from the USAG’s insurance survivors might get.
Answering the questions for USA Gymnastics was Chief Financial Officer Scott Shollenbarger. Schollenbarger joined USA Gymnastics as their CFO in July 2018. He used his relatively new status with the organization as his reason for being unable to answer more of the survivors’ questions.
Among the survivors who questioned Shollenbarger was Rachel Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar of sexual abuse. A major focus of Denhollander and other survivors’ questions was the scope of accusation against USA Gymnastics. The survivors said they believe the organization has not done enough to find out how many coaches and trainers have preyed on the athletes, and therefore USA Gymnastics cannot know how many people will bring claims against the organization. The women also questioned salaries, bonuses and severance agreements of the handful of employees who have left since the Nassar scandal broke.
“I think it was insulting,” Denhollander said. “We’ve been in litigation for almost three years now. We’ve been asking these questions for three years. The most basic question we’ve asked is please go find out who those predators are, find out those children you need to protect, and they haven’t done that much three years later.”
USAG is required to file monthly operating reports with the court. They have not filed their report for December. That report and the January report are due mid-February. There may be another hearing in the bankruptcy court later this month.
The survivors said they will continue to move forward to gain accountability and reform. They have said they believe USA Gymnastics is using the bankruptcy filing as a ploy to postpone more than 100 lawsuits connected to its handling of the Nassar allegations.