Olympic gold and silver medalist, McKayla Maroney has filed a lawsuit against the United States Olympic Committee and Michigan State University on Wednesday.
The lawsuit is in connection with the Larry Nassar sex abuse case.
Her lawyer sent out a release to the media describing her abuse at the hands of Larry Nassar.
It also stated that the lawsuit "alleges that Michigan State University and the US Olympic Committee failed to properly investigate, discipline or remove Olympic Team doctor Larry Nassar who allegedly molested Ms. Maroney while she was a member of the USA National Gymnastics Team and the 2012 Olympic Team."
Maroney released a statement in October, in it she said: “It started when I was 13 years old, at one of my first National Team training camps, in Texas, and it didn’t end until I left the sport. It seemed whenever and wherever this man could find the chance, I was “treated.” It happened in London before my team and I won the gold medal, and It happened before I won my Silver.”
More than 140 girls and women have come out accusing Larry Nassar of molesting them. They have reported that Nassar would place his un-gloved hand in their vaginas under the guise of medical treatment.
His alleged victims were as young as 9 years-old. Nassar admitted in his guilty pleas that these treatments were in fact for his own pleasure.
Nassar’s victims include three members of the 2012 Gold Medal Women’s Gymnastics Olympic Team - Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas and McKayla Maroney.
“A simple fact is this. If Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic Committee had paid attention to any of the red flags in Larry Nassar’s behavior I never would have met him, I never would have been “treated” by him and I never would have been abused by him,” said Ms. Maroney.
The suit also accuses USA Gymnastics of attempting to silence Ms. Maroney with a non-disclosure agreement.
According to the complaint, “…This settlement agreement, negotiated and/or signed by counsel for USAG…, was done so in direct violation of California Law, and for the purpose of silencing a known victim of Nassar.”
The lawsuit further alleges, “…MCKAYLA MARONEY was forced to agree to a non-disparagement clause and confidentiality provision, in the above-mentioned settlement agreement, that brought with it liquidated damages penalties of over $100,000, should she or other affiliated non-parties speak of her abuse or The Settlement.”
John Manly, McKayla’s attorney, called the confidentiality agreement “an immoral and illegal attempt to silence a victim of child sexual abuse.” He said, “The US Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics were well aware that the victim of child sexual abuse in California cannot be forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement as a condition of a settlement. Such agreements are illegal for very good reasons, they silence victims and allow perpetrators to continue committing their crimes. That is exactly what happened in this case.”
According to the Manly, Stewart & Finaldi firm, the impacts of the Nassar scandal have been far reaching, with top sponsors of USA Gymnastics, including Procter & Gamble, Kellogg’s, Hershey’s and Under Armour, recently withdrawing sponsorship support from the organization.
