Woody Allen Child Abuse Allegations, Larry Nassar: 265 young women say they were abused by former USA Gymnastic doctor

Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Dylan Farrow: A Timeline
A look at major events in the complicated history of Mr. Allen and the Farrow family.
By Sopan Deb and Deborah Leiderman
Jan. 31, 2018

Woody Allen is facing new criticism — including from some actors in his films — over allegations by his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow that he molested her in 1992 when she was a child. The Allen-Farrow story has its roots in the 1970s and encompasses several major events in the lives of Mr. Allen; his former partner Mia Farrow; and their daughter Dylan....

December 1991
Mr. Allen adopts Dylan Farrow and Moses Farrow, one of Ms. Farrow’s sons, who she adopted in 1980. Mr. Allen, who is 56, begins an affair with Ms. Farrow’s 21-year-old daughter, Soon-Yi Previn around this time.

Jan. 13, 1992
Ms. Farrow discovers nude photographs of Soon-Yi Previn in Mr. Allen’s apartment. He later testifies in court that he thought the affair would remain secret....
March 18, 1993

After a seven-month inquiry by a team of child abuse investigators at Yale-New Haven hospital, Mr. Allen’s lawyers say he has been cleared of molesting Dylan Farrow. Ms. Farrow’s legal team calls the confidential report “incomplete and inaccurate.” The report, which was commissioned by Connecticut law enforcement, was never officially released, but media outlets reported some of its contents....

June 7, 1993
Mr. Allen loses the custody battle. Acting Justice Elliott Wilk of the State Supreme Court says Mr. Allen is “self-absorbed, untrustworthy and insensitive.” He denies Mr. Allen visitation rights with Dylan Farrow.

Sept. 24, 1993

Frank Maco, a state’s attorney in Connecticut, announces that while he has “probable cause” to prosecute Mr. Allen, he would decline to press charges to spare Dylan Farrow the trauma of a trial. Mr. Maco says he believed that Dylan had been molested....

October 2017
The New York Times, and then Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker, publish stories about sexual harassment, abuse and rape allegations against Harvey Weinstein.

Mr. Allen says he feels “sad for Harvey” and warns against “a witch hunt atmosphere.” He later calls Mr. Weinstein “a sad, sick man.”....
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/movies/woody-allen-mia-farrow-dylan-farrow-a-timeline.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/movies/woody-allen-mia-farrow-dylan-farrow-a-timeline.html


Larry Nassar latest: 265 young women say they were abused by former USA Gymnastic doctor, judge says
It was previously believed the total number of victims was closer to 200
Andrew Buncombe New York

More than 265 people have come forward to say they were sexually abused by the disgraced former gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, a judge has said.

As Nassar’s third sentencing hearing got underway on Wednesday in Eaton County, Michigan, Judge Janice Cunningham said dozens of women and girls were expected to deliver statements in court. “Some of the victims have chosen not to be identified,” she said.

During a seven-day hearing that concluded last week in nearby Ingham County, more than 150 young women delivered powerful statements confronting Nassar and telling him of the devastating impact he had on their lives.....
As the hearing continued, it was reported that the entire board of directors of USA Gymnastics, which Nassar served as a team doctor for 20 years, had stood down after being told they would otherwise be fired.

Last week, Nassar was sentenced to between 40 to 175 years in prison when he appeared before Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina....

Around 140 victims have filed a lawsuit against Nassar, USA Gymnastics (USAG) and Michigan State University (MSU), claiming the institutions knew about allegations of abuse years ago and failed to act.

USAG said last week after Olympic officials threatened to decertify the organisation as the sport’s US governing body that its entire board had resigned and sponsors have already backed away ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games.

The United States Olympic Committee, which has been criticised by victims as well, has announced an independent investigation into both its own conduct and that of USAG.
The Michigan attorney general’s office, which prosecuted Nassar, is pursuing a criminal probe into the college over its handling of allegations against Nassar. The university’s president and athletic director stepped down in the wake of Nassar’s sentencing last week....
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/larry-nasser-abuse-sentence-victims-latest-court-judge-michigan-judge-janice-cunningham-a8187926.html

Larry Nassar sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison in sexual assault cases

Larry Nassar sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison in sexual assault cases
Tom Schad, USA TODAY Jan. 24, 2018

Former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison on Wednesday in Ingham County Circuit Court in Michigan....

Nassar received his sentence after listening to 156 victim-impact statements over seven days, including powerful statements from Olympic medalists Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber, among others.

Nassar, who was also previously employed by Michigan State University, pleaded guilty to 10 charges of sexual assault in November split between two counties, including seven in Ingham County. His sentencing in Eaton County, where he faces the other three charges, is scheduled to begin Jan. 31.

Nassar's plea agreement had set the low end of his sentence at 25-40 years in prison, with a maximum sentence of life in prison. The agreement also provided that women and girls abused by Nassar be given the chance to deliver victim-impact statements, if they wished to do so....

More than 150 seized that opportunity, speaking directly to Nassar in Aquilina’s courtroom. Roughly two dozen other victim-impact statements were submitted directly to the court, Michigan assistant attorney general Angela Povilaitis said.....

The 54-year-old Nassar was also sentenced last month to serve 60 years in prison on federal child pornography charges, which, with Wednesday's sentence, ensures that he will spend the rest of his life in prison.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2018/01/24/larry-nassar-sentenced-40-175-years-prison-us-gymnastics-sexual-abuse/1060994001/

As sentencing hearing draws toward close, women tell Nassar they are 'taking back' their lives
Matt Mencarini, Lansing State Journal Jan. 23, 2018

LANSING – After 153 victim-impact statements and six days, Larry Nassar's sentencing hearing is nearing an end.

On Tuesday, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina confirmed with prosecutors that they planned for three more impact statements Wednesday before moving on to the next phase, in which Nassar will learn his sentence.

However, at the start of each day, the Michigan Attorney General's Office, which prosecuted Nassar, has updated the total number of expected impact statements. What began as 88 speakers 11 days ago was at 158 on Tuesday morning, although several had not shown up before court recessed for the day....

As Nassar's sentencing hearing drew national attention, more and more women and girls reached out and wanted to speak.

Through those statements — most in person, but some through video or letters read by prosecutors — themes began to emerge.

There’s the trauma: Nightmares, PTSD, loss of trust and self-worth, loss of voice and suicidal thoughts.

There’s the abuse: Hundreds of instances of being sexually assaulted, digitally penetrated with Nassar’s ungloved hand, sometimes in an exam room, sometimes in the back room of Twistars gymnastics club, sometimes in his home and at least one in a supply closet.

And there’s triumph: Succeeding despite the abuse and trauma, but also reclaiming what Nassar took....

Nassar worked for Michigan State University and with USA Gymnastics for decades. Many of the women and girls who spoke these last two weeks said Nassar abused them at MSU or at USA Gymnastics sanctioned events or gyms.

Those organizations drew harsh criticism from many of the women and girls who spoke. They said MSU and USA Gymnastics, among others, failed to protect them from Nassar and continue avoid taking responsibility for enabling him....
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2018/01/23/women-tell-nassar-they-taking-back-their-power-and-their-futures-speaking-his-sentencing/1056888001/

A look at the lives of 13 siblings held captive, Athletes Face Larry Nassar and Recount Sexual Abuse

-  A look at the lives of 13 siblings held captive in a house full of chains — and what comes next

-  One After Another, Athletes Face Larry Nassar and Recount Sexual Abuse

-  Women Confront Larry Nassar in Court: ‘I Was So Brainwashed Then’

-  What MSU knew: 14 were warned of Nassar abuse
8 women reported abuse claims, at least one of which reached president

A look at the lives of 13 siblings held captive in a house full of chains — and what comes next
by Marwa Eltagouri January 19, 2018

California parents plead not guilty to torture of 13 children

What started as neglect, officials said, became dangerous and pervasive child abuse over the years.

If they misbehaved, the 13 siblings living in a Southern California home would be tied to their beds as punishment — first with ropes, until a child whose limbs were strung together was able to wriggle free. Then, the parents began using chains and padlocks, officials said.

Over time, the periods in which the siblings were confined grew longer, and they would not be released to use the bathroom, officials said....

These disturbing living conditions for years went undiscovered, police say, until a 17-year-old girl escaped from the Perris, Calif., house this week. Her 12 siblings were freed soon after, and her parents were arrested.

On Thursday, David Allen Turpin and Louise Anna Turpin were charged with multiple felony counts of torture, child abuse, abuse of dependent adults and false imprisonment. David Turpin is additionally charged with committing a lewd act on one of the female children by force. The couple, initially arrested on charges of torture and child endangerment, could face up to life in prison if found guilty....

The parents would buy food for themselves but prohibit the children from having any, with the exception of the 2-year-old, who was getting enough to eat. Sometimes, authorities said, the parents would buy apple or pumpkin pies, leave them on the counter and let them go uneaten, prohibiting the children from tasting them.

One 12-year-old is so malnourished that his weight was that of an average 7-year-old, and the 29-year-old female victim weighs 82 pounds, Hestrin said.

The siblings rarely left their Perris house and did not go to school. Instead, they were taught at home, Hestrin said, but were forced to sleep all day and stay up at night, typically going to sleep at 4 or 5 a.m.

The Turpin children were permitted to bathe just once a year, Hestrin said....

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/01/19/starved-beaten-unbathed-how-a-17-year-old-escaped-a-house-full-of-chains-and-freed-her-12-siblings/

One After Another, Athletes Face Larry Nassar and Recount Sexual Abuse
By SCOTT CACCIOLA and CHRISTINE HAUSER JAN. 19, 2018

LANSING, Mich. — Armed with pieces of paper etched with their memories of sexual abuse, they stepped forward, one by one — nearly 100 of them, with more to come.

For four full days this week, in a fluorescent-lighted courtroom here, women and girls — some of them the best gymnasts in the country, others with dreams prematurely crushed, they said, by a man who now sat in handcuffs 10 feet away — leaned into a microphone to address him, sometimes through sobs, sometimes with screams, but always with determination.

Aly Raisman, 23, who won gold medals at the past two Summer Olympics, told of late-night knocks on her hotel door while she was competing overseas, as the man, Dr. Lawrence G. Nassar, then the team doctor, arrived to abuse her.

A teammate at the 2012 London Games, Jordyn Wieber, who until Friday had not identified herself as a victim of Dr. Nassar’s, recalled the torment of the Games, where she was a part of the American team that won a gold medal but, she said, had to submit to his care under the auspices of the sport’s governing body, U.S.A. Gymnastics.

“Our bodies were all hanging by a thread in London,” she said. “Who was the doctor that U.S.A.G. sent? The doctor who was our abuser.”....

“Nobody was protecting us from being taken advantage of,” Ms. Wieber said. “Nobody was ever concerned whether or not we were being sexually abused.”

Ms. Raisman took clear aim at both U.S.A. Gymnastics and the United States Olympic Committee when she appeared in court on Friday.

“Neither U.S.A. Gymnastics nor the U.S.O.C. have reached out to express sympathy or even offer support,” she said. “Not even to ask: ‘How did this happen? What do you think we can do to help?’ Why have I and others here, probably, not heard anything from the leadership at the U.S.O.C.? Why has the United States Olympic Committee been silent? Why isn’t the U.S.O.C. here right now?”....

The impact of the trial, and Dr. Nassar’s history of assault, is spreading well beyond the courtroom. Michigan State University, which employed Dr. Nassar, was also facing increasing pressure after revelations that 14 people, including the president, Lou Anna K. Simon, had been warned about his conduct....
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/19/sports/larry-nassar-women.html

Women Confront Larry Nassar in Court: ‘I Was So Brainwashed Then’
By CHRISTINE HAUSER and MAYA SALAM JAN. 22, 2018
Three U.S.A. Gymnastics board members resigned in the wake of Larry Nassar’s sex abuse scandal. More survivors came forward on the fifth day of the sentencing hearing.

....But on Monday in a Michigan courtroom, on the fifth day of Dr. Nassar’s sentencing hearings, dozens of women spoke out or had their statements read aloud for them — statements about how, after winning their trust, he sexually molested them. They described being misled as children and teenagers, saying that they saw Dr. Nassar as a trustworthy savior who consoled them or wiped blood from their faces, and as a man they looked up to as a prominent doctor in gymnastics.

As nearly 100 women did last week, they offered remarks that went beyond the emotional and graphic stories of sexual abuse by Dr. Nassar when they were sent to him as young athletes. On Monday, more than a dozen asked how the abuse could have gone on for decades, and why organizations — such as the national gymnastics governing body and Michigan State University, his employer — enabled him or turned a blind eye.

On Monday, several top board members of U.S.A. Gymnastics announced their resignations, including the group’s chairman, vice chairman and treasurer. On Saturday, a Michigan State trustee, Mitch Lyons, dissented from the board’s public support for its president, Lou Anna K. Simon, calling for her to resign amid questions around her knowledge about Dr. Nassar’s behavior....

As the women approached the podium, they were welcomed by Judge Rosemarie Aquilina of Ingham County Circuit Court, who called them “survivors” and said she would hear statements from more than 140 women altogether, possibly through Tuesday. Dr. Nassar, who has already received a 60-year sentence for child pornography, will be sentenced after the statements are finished.

After each of them spoke, the judge addressed them again, encouraging them to leave their painful memories behind.....

Dr. Nassar pleaded guilty in November to seven counts of sexual assault, and his sentencing hearing, which began last Tuesday, has been growing as the number of women who have wanted to speak in court has grown.....

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/sports/larry-nassar-abuse-victims-statements.html

What MSU knew: 14 were warned of Nassar abuse
8 women reported abuse claims, at least one of which reached president
Kim Kozlowski, The Detroit News

Reports of sexual misconduct by Dr. Larry Nassar reached at least 14 Michigan State University representatives in the two decades before his arrest, with no fewer than eight women reporting his actions, a Detroit News investigation has found.

Among those notified was MSU President Lou Anna Simon, who was informed in 2014 that a Title IX complaint and a police report had been filed against an unnamed physician, she told The News on Wednesday.

“I was informed that a sports medicine doctor was under investigation,” said Simon, who made the brief comments after appearing in court Wednesday to observe a sentencing hearing for Nassar. “I told people to play it straight up, and I did not receive a copy of the report. That’s the truth.”

Among the others who were aware of alleged abuse were athletic trainers, assistant coaches, a university police detective and an official who is now MSU’s assistant general counsel, according to university records and accounts of victims who spoke to The News.

Collectively, the accounts show MSU missed multiple opportunities over two decades to stop Nassar, a graduate of its osteopathic medical school who became a renowned doctor but went on to molest scores of girls and women under the guise of treating them for pain.....

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/tech/2018/01/18/msu-president-told-nassar-complaint-2014/1042071001/