Advertisement

USA Gymnastics Board of Directors members resign amid backlash they enabled Nassar’s sex abuse

It's about time.

Credit: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Credit: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

On Monday, the executive leadership of the USA Gymnastics Board of Directors — Chairman Paul Parilla, Vice Chairman Jay Binder, and Treasurer Bitsy Kelley — all announced their resignations, effective January 21.

This comes after more than 100 sexual assault victims (and counting) have spoken over five days in a Lansing, Michigan courtroom in the sentencing hearing for Larry Nassar, former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor.

More than 150 women and girls have accused Nassar of sexually abusing them under the guise of medical treatment over a 25-year span. John Geddert, a coach affiliated with USA Gymnastics, was told of Nassar’s abuse back in 1998. In 2015, Nassar’s abuse was reported to executives at USA Gymnastics, but they took five weeks to report his abuse to the FBI. They also did not notify Nassar’s other employers, MSU or Twistars, of the credible allegations of sexual abuse, and they allowed Nassar to portray his departure from USA Gymnastics as a retirement.

Advertisement

Nassar went on to abuse girls and women at MSU for more than a year, before IndyStar published an investigation into the culture of enabling sexual abuse within USA Gymnastics.

Many gymnasts, including Olympic champions Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney, say that USA Gymnastics asked them to keep quiet about the abuse they suffered; USA Gymnastics even paid Maroney $1.25 million and had her sign a nondisclosure agreement to keep her allegations a secret.

Many have clamored for a complete overhaul of the board at USA Gymnastics, but until Monday, only former USA Gymnastics President Steve Penny had lost his job. He resigned under pressure last spring, with a $1 million severance package, just days after Parilla, Kelley, and Binder reiterated their support for him.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated with more information as it develops.