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US gymnastics victims win $530m settlement

Superstar Olympian and four-time gold medallist Simone Biles is one of Nassar's highest-profile victims.

Superstar Olympian and four-time gold medallist Simone Biles is one of Nassar's highest-profile victims. Photo: Getty

Victims of disgraced former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar have reached a $US380 million ($A530 million) settlement with USA Gymnastics, the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee and their insurers after a five-year legal battle, an attorney for some of his victims says.

As part of the settlement, USAG and the Olympic Committee also agreed to designate some of their board seats to survivors and to implement other policies aimed at protecting athletes from future abuse.

To get those reforms in place, USOPC committed to allocating $5 million, the lawyer said.

“This settlement is about the brave survivors who came forward, forced these organisations to listen, and demanded change,” Michelle Simpson Tuegel, who represents more than two dozen Nassar survivors, said in a joint statement with Tasha Schwikert Moser, co-chair of the Survivors Creditors Committee.

“Through this agreement, these survivors are finally being acknowledged and USAG and USOPC are being forced to change so that this sport can begin a new chapter,” they said.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Monday (US time) that the settlement would cover hundreds of victims including claims brought by Olympic gold medallists Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney, who are among Nassar’s most high-profile victims of sexual abuse.

All three women testified about the abuse they suffered during a Senate hearing this year. At the hearing, they blasted USA Gymnastics and Olympic officials for failing to stop Nassar, and they took the FBI to task over its botched investigation into Nassar’s actions.

Nassar, who had been the main doctor for Olympic gymnasts, was sentenced in federal court in 2017 to 60 years in prison on charges of possessing child sex abuse material.

The following year, he was also sentenced to up to 175 years and up to 125 years, respectively, in two Michigan courts for molesting female gymnasts under his care.

The settlement was reached after TIG Insurance agreed to pay a large portion of the money, the Journal said.

USA Gymnastics filed for bankruptcy in 2018, after Olympic bronze medallist Jamie Dantzscher had filed a lawsuit and additional claims were filed on behalf of a growing number of Nassar’s victims.

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