Larry Nassar ordered to give prison money to his victims
Former USA gymnastics doctor serving up to 175 years behind bars for sexual abuse
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Larry Nassar has been ordered by a federal judge to hand over the money in his prison bank account to his victims.
The former USA Gymnastics team doctor is serving between 40 and 175 years in prison for sexually abusing young female athletes in his care.
Prosecutors had asked the judge to let them seize around $2,000 from Nassar’s Bureau of Prisons account, which he had tried to fight.
In court papers prosecutors stated that the prison system had collected just $100 a year in restitution in the three-and-a-half years that Nassar has been behind bars.
But they noted that during the same period Nassar, who owes victims more than $60,000 in judgments, had spent more than $10,000 on himself while in prison.
Nassar, defending himself, argued that he had been “in full compliance” with the Bureau of Prisons policy of paying less than one per cent of the owed restitution.
But that argument was rejected by US District Court Judge Janet Neff, who said that Nassar may have followed the Bureau policy but that he owed his victims much more than he was paying.
The judge signed a court order to force the Bureau to hand over $2,041.57 from Nassar’s account, according to The Washington Post.
“Because [the] Defendant has received substantial non-exempt funds in his inmate trust account since incarceration, he was required by law to notify the Court and the United States Attorney and to apply those funds to the restitution that he still owed,” the judge stated.
In court papers Nassar stated that the money came from two stimulus checks worth $2,000, as well as personal gifts from people.
Nassar is being held in a high-security prison in Florida to serve his state sentence for sex abuse, and a federal sentence for child pornography charges.
Last month the Justice Department Inspector General released a report criticising the FBI’s botched investigation of the sexual abuse claims made against Nassar.
He has been accused of abusing hundreds of women, including Olympic great Simone Biles and a string of other Team USA gymnasts.
Court records show that Nassar has not paid any of the $57,488.52 he was ordered to turn over to five victims in the federal child pornography case, according to The Washington Post.
He also still owes $834 in the Michigan abuse case, as well as $5,000 in special assessment in the federal case.
The Bureau of Prisons declined comment when reached by The Independent.