Nassar victim: Michigan State leader offered secret payoff

LANSING, MICH. » A sexual assault victim of former sports doctor Larry Nassar confronted Michigan State University officials on Friday, alleging the school’s interim leader pressured her to accept a payoff to settle her lawsuit without her attorney present.

Kaylee Lorincz spoke during a contentious board of trustees meeting, where interim President John Engler expressed regret over the university’s response to another woman’s federal lawsuit over the school’s handling of rape allegations involving basketball players. Lorincz, who has said Nassar sexually assaulted her when she sought treatment for back pain, said Engler and Carol Viventi, who was hired in February as special counsel to the president, offered her $250,000 when the 18-year-old and her mother were at the school a few weeks ago to sign up to speak at Friday’s meeting.

According to Lorincz, Engler said to her, “Right now if I wrote you a check for $250,000 would you take it?”

Lorincz said Engler also told her that Rachael Denhollander, another Nassar victim, had provided him with an amount she would consider to settle with the university. Lorincz said she later asked Denhollander, who told her she had never met with Engler. Denhollender issued a written statement confirming that encounter with Lorincz.

“I felt like I was being bullied into saying something and that if Rachael gave him a settlement amount, it was OK for me to do it, too,” Lorincz said in a prepared statement that she read aloud.

Engler’s spokeswoman, Emily Guerrant, said she was in the room during the conversation and does not remember Engler verbalizing a dollar figure.

“My interpretation of the discussion was not that he was saying, ‘I’m offering you $250,000,’” Guerrant said. “It was a discussion about the civil litigation and how it was going on.”

Engler did not directly respond to Lorincz during her speech except to say Lorincz’s characterization of Viventi as his attorney was incorrect. He later issued a statement saying the meeting took place but he did not elaborate on Lorincz’s account of it.

“Our memories and interpretations of the March 28 meeting are different than hers,” Engler said. “I am sorry if anything said during the meeting was misunderstood.”

CLARENCE TABB JR. — DETROIT NEWS VIA AP Parents of sexual abuse survivors, from left, Glen Black, of Pinckney, Mich., Tammy Bourque-Stemas, of Dearborn, Mich., and Valerie von Frank, of Okemos, Mich., stand by the elevator waiting for trustees to arrive for a Michigan State University board...