Abused Olympian tries to nix secrecy deal
LOS ANGELES — Olympic gold medalist McKayla Maroney was forced to sign a confidential settlement with the group that trains U.S. Olympic gymnasts to keep allegations that she was sexually abused by team doctor Larry Nassar a secret, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
Maroney, 22, who won a team gold and an individual silver on vault at the 2012 Olympics in London, said Nassar’s abuse started in her early teens and continued for the rest of her career.
After suffering “years of psychological trauma,” Maroney reached a settlement with USA Gymnastics in December 2016, but the terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed. Her lawsuit seeks to invalidate parts of the settlement, arguing it violated a California law that prohibits settlements in civil cases that could result in criminal sexoffense charges.
Maroney or her parents could be sued for more than $100,000 for violating the agreement.
Nassar has admitted to sexually assaulting female gymnasts, possessing child pornography and molesting girls who sought treatment. He was sentenced this month to serve 60 years in federal prison for possessing thousands of images of child pornography.
Maroney’s lawsuit also names the U.S. Olympic Committee and Michigan State University, where Nassar worked for decades. ago broke free from the yoke of the Soviet Union to embrace democracy.
The new laws effectively put the Polish courts under the control of the right-wing governing party, Law and Justice. In signing them, President Andrzej Duda defied a formal warning delivered only hours earlier by the European Union, which called the legislation a ‘‘ serious breach’’ of bedrock values like the rule of law.
Once viewed as a symbol for the successful integration of former Eastern Bloc countries into the West, Poland is now seen as portending a far darker trend — a turn toward right-wing populism and away from values like pluralism and respect for dissent. Wednesday to federal prosecutors trying to punish leaders of armed standoffs meant to oppose federal authority over vast swaths of land in the West.
Chief U. S. District Judge Gloria Navarro declared a mistrial in the case against states’ rights fi gure Cliven Bundy, his sons Ryan and Ammon Bundy and self-styled Montana militia leader Ryan Payne.
Prosecutors contended the four broke the law in a tense armed confrontation between Bundy supporters and government agents who gave up efforts to confiscate Bundy cattle in 2014.
Navarro didn’t dismiss the case outright, but she said she might after a Jan. 8 hearing. She severely criticized prosecutors for suppressing information and violating constitutional due process by failing to turn over all their evidence to defense attorneys.