Victim's Attorney John Manly Calls For Decertification Of USA Gymnastics In Wake Of Larry Nassar Sex Abuse Scandal

IRVINE, Calif., March 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- An attorney representing more than 70 young girls and women who are alleged victims of sexual abuse by Dr. Larry Nassar today called upon the United States Olympic Committee to decertify USA Gymnastics as the governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Click here for the letter.

The demand comes in response to a USA Today story published yesterday which states that, "Officials within the US Olympic Committee say USA Gymnastics President and CEO Steve Penny must resign so the National Governing Board can move forward in the midst of a sex abuse scandal."

Victim's attorney John Manly, a partner in Manly, Stewart & Finaldi said, "The reasons for our request for the decertification of USA Gymnastics by the USOC are straightforward, clear and indeed required under Federal law. The Ted Stevens Amateur Sports Act specifically provides that an eligible amateur sports organization must "provide[sic] an equal opportunity to amateur athletes to participate in amateur athletic competition, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, or national origin…" Without question, the serial rape and molestation of hundreds of girls, by coaches, trainers and other USA Gymnastics' staff, materially inhibits these women's ability to participate in their sport and is discriminatory. If that is not enough to justify the decertification of USA Gymnastics, then what is?"

5,600 pages of USA Gymnastics documents released by a Georgia judge at the request of The Indianapolis Star revealed that USA Gymnastics did not ban coaches for several years even though they had been convicted of sex crimes against children, according to an article published in The New York Daily News.

The documents also reveal that USA Gymnastics officials testified that they had no formal training in handling sexual abuse allegations before making rulings on sexual abuse complaints against coaches. More than 50 alleged victims of Dr. Larry Nassar have filed lawsuits against USA Gymnastics in State and Federal Courts.

Manly, Stewart & Finaldi is California's leading law firm representing child victims of sexual abuse.  The firm has represented more than 150 victims of clergy sexual abuse in California and hundreds of others throughout the United States.  The firm also represented plaintiffs in the $140,000,000 settlement against LAUSD in the Miramonte case, the largest sex abuse settlement against a School District in the US.

SOURCE Manly, Stewart & Finaldi