Top U.S. governing bodies sued by Karolyis
Bela and Martha Karolyi have filed suit against the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics, seeking more than a million dollars in damages and saying they should not be held responsible for lawsuits stemming from crimes committed at their Sam Houston National Forest ranch by imprisoned doctor Larry Nassar.
The suit, filed in Walker County, accuses USA Gymnastics of violating a purchase agreement and a lease agreement at the couple’s ranch, which until last year housed the women’s national training center, and of failing to live up to a promise to “wrap their arms” around the couple and to defend them against allegations stemming from the Nassar sexual abuse scandal.
“(USA Gymnastics) used the close relationship between itself and the Karolyis to its benefit and then disregarded the Karolyis when they no longer felt it expedient to keep them close,” the lawsuit says.
Along with detailing their claims against USA Gymnastics and the USOC, the lawsuit also includes the Karolyis’ denial of prior knowledge that Nassar, who has been sentenced to the equivalent of a life prison sentence in Michigan for sexual abuse of gymnasts, may have molested gymnasts at the ranch while serving as a USA Gymnastics team doctor.
“The Karolyis never had any knowledge of Larry Nassar’s reprehensible conduct and would have reported such conduct had they learned of it or if there had been any suspicion,” the lawsuit said.
The suit, filed by the Karolyis’ Houston attorney, Gary Jewell, said the Karolyis learned in 2015 that Nassar was no longer with the federation but did not know
until after the 2016 Summer Olympics that he was suspected of sexually abusing gymnasts under the guise of medical care.
They were instructed in 2015 not to disclose that Nassar was no longer associated with USA Gymnastics, the lawsuit said.
As lawsuits against USA Gymnastics and the USOC began to mount, the USOC in February 2018 asked the Karolyis, through a company owned by the couple, to indemnify the USOC against damages in court and to defend the USOC in lawsuits filed against the USOC alleging actions that may have taken place at the ranch.
However, the Karolyis say they should not be required to come to the legal defense of USOC and USA Gymnastics because gymnasts who have filed lawsuits allege that the USOC and USA Gymnastics failed to protect them against Nassar’s abuse.
“USOC’s request … is merely USOC and USAG’s attempt to sacrifice the Karolyis … to shift blame off of themselves,” the lawsuit said.
In the lawsuit, which has been assigned to state District Judge Hal Ridley, the Karolyis seek a declaration that they are not required to indemnify the USOC and USA Gymnastics. It also seeks damages from USA Gymnastics, accusing the federation of reneging on a contract to purchase a portion of the ranch and of breaching its contract to hold national team training camps at the ranch.
USA Gymnastics had no right to violate the purchase contract, the couple said, because it was aware in 2015 that Nassar may have assaulted gymnasts at the ranch, a full year before signing the contract to purchase the gym complex.
The couple also says USA Gymnastics failed its duty to the Karolyis by not informing them in 2015 that Nassar was suspected of sexual abuse while continuing to use the Karolyis’ name, image and reputation to promote gymnastics.
Meanwhile Tuesday, former USA Gymnastics national team member Sabrina Vega filed suit against Nassar, USA Gymnastics, the USOC and the Karolyis, alleging she was sexually abused by Nassar hundreds of times at the Karolyi Ranch and at competition sites around the world.
The lawsuit, filed in Walker County, is the second known case filed in Texas stemming from the Nassar scandal.
Vega, who won a team gold medal at the 2011 International Gymnastics Federation world championships and currently is on the gymnastics team at the University of Georgia, alleges she was repeatedly molested by Nassar while training on the national team from 2008 through 2012.
As part of what her attorneys describe as a “massive top down institutional failure,” Vega said the USOC and USA Gymnastics failed to educate staff members and staff on the prevention of sexual misconduct, that USA Gymnastics failed to supervise Nassar and to protect athletes from abuse, and that the Karolyis knew or should have known that Nassar was assaulting gymnasts and did nothing to protect them.
Bela and Martha Karolyi first rose to prominence in gymnastics in the 1970s in their native Romania and moved to Texas in the 1980s, where their gymnasts included Olympic gold medalists Mary Lou Retton, Kerri Strug and Dominique Moceanu.
Bela Karolyi served as national team coordinator for USA Gymnastics in 2000, and Martha Karolyi held the job from 2001 through 2016, when the U.S. women’s team won its second consecutive Olympic team gold medal.