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MSU Special Counsel apologizes for calling Nassar survivor's statements "fake news"

Posted at 9:30 AM, Apr 19, 2018
and last updated 2018-04-19 09:30:17-04

The special counsel to Michigan State University Interim President John Engler is apologizing after calling statements from a Larry Nassar survivor "fake news."

Carol Viventi says she did not think about how her words would make the survivors feel and says she is sorry for adding to their pain. The apology came after the Detroit Free Press obtained e-mails sent by Viventi, to the Board of Trustees, after last Fridays meeting when survivor Kaylee Lorincz accused Engler of offering her $250,000 to settle a lawsuit. Viventi said her speech contained false and inaccurate statements and said the school did not respond out of fear it would be perceived as "re-victimization, or shaming of survivors."

The e-mails also accuse Lorincz, and her mother, of trying to "set up" MSU when they met with Engler in person last month.

Lorincz is one of more than 250 survivors suing MSU over it's handling of the Larry Nassar sex abuse scandal.