Ohio State University reaches $100 million settlement in sex abuse lawsuits

Ohio State University has agreed to pay $100 million in damages to 279 former students who said a campus doctor sexually assaulted them decades ago.

Just one of the former students who were part of five active federal lawsuits against Ohio State did not sign on to the agreement, the university and the lawyers for the accusers said in a statement.

Details of the settlement were being finalized, the joint statement said. It did not divulge the name of the holdout.

The announcement appeared to be a significant step toward ending the eight-year legal battle in the Southern District of Ohio to get Ohio State to pay damages over allegations that it knew Dr. Richard Strauss was preying on students, the majority of whom were also athletes, but did nothing to stop him.

In the coming weeks, a special master appointed by the court is expected to interview each of the men involved in the litigation to determine the level of harm and how much settlement money they will receive.

“The survivors of the Strauss abuse are all Buckeyes,” OSU President Ravi Bellamkonda said Wednesday at a university board meeting where the settlement was announced. “We continue to be very grateful to them for their courage in coming forward, and reaching a final resolution is very important to us and is an important step forward.”

Before the settlement, OSU had settled Strauss abuse claims with 317 other survivors for more than $61 million. Both OSU and its former president have publicly apologized “to each person who endured” abuse at the hands of Strauss, who died by suicide in 2005.

OSU has been battling Strauss-related lawsuits since 2018, when a whistleblowing former wrestler named Mike DiSabato came forward with allegations that Strauss sexually abused him and hundreds of other male athletes under the guise of physical exams.

Pushed by DiSabato, OSU hired the law firm Perkins Coie to conduct an independent investigation. The firm concluded in May 2019 that Strauss sexually abused at least 177 male athletes and other students from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s and that coaches and administrators knew about it for two decades but failed to stop him.

U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, the powerful Republican congressman from Ohio, was among the former coaches DiSabato and numerous other former OSU wrestlers accused of having done nothing to stop Strauss from abusing them. Jordan was an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State from 1986 to 1994.

He has repeatedly denied any knowledge of what Strauss is alleged to have done to the athletes.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSHow we reported the saga of the CIA officer and his gold-bar stash

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘We’re going to beat you to death with audits’: Brad Raffensperger gears up to oversee his final election in Georgia

FOR SUBSCRIBERSWhat happened inside the room where officials tried to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDiddy is punished following NBC News report on his VIP life in prison and contraband cellphone use

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Too young to vote, old enough to be tear gassed’: French protesters’ anger swells

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDOJ gets aggressive in suing states that challenge Trump’s immigration policies

FOR SUBSCRIBERSJustice Department seeks criminal charge for former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘I just want to hold him’: USS Lincoln sailor to meet his 10-month-old son as ship docks

FOR SUBSCRIBERSSenate candidates run on raising Social Security taxes for higher incomes to prevent benefit cuts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRussian operation that used ChatGPT tricked schools, a politician and media, OpenAI says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump administration’s deal with Nevada fuels data center fight in governor’s race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSLatino voters reject Trump’s immigration policies — and detail the personal impact

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAs Democrats eye big midterm gains, the Wisconsin governor’s race remains a nail-biter

FOR SUBSCRIBERSU.S. military prepares new Iran war options ahead of midterm elections

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCIA probe into intel leak led to discovery of gold bars at agent’s home, sources say

Slide 1 of 1

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSHow we reported the saga of the CIA officer and his gold-bar stash

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘We’re going to beat you to death with audits’: Brad Raffensperger gears up to oversee his final election in Georgia

FOR SUBSCRIBERSWhat happened inside the room where officials tried to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDiddy is punished following NBC News report on his VIP life in prison and contraband cellphone use

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Too young to vote, old enough to be tear gassed’: French protesters’ anger swells

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDOJ gets aggressive in suing states that challenge Trump’s immigration policies

FOR SUBSCRIBERSJustice Department seeks criminal charge for former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘I just want to hold him’: USS Lincoln sailor to meet his 10-month-old son as ship docks

FOR SUBSCRIBERSSenate candidates run on raising Social Security taxes for higher incomes to prevent benefit cuts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRussian operation that used ChatGPT tricked schools, a politician and media, OpenAI says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump administration’s deal with Nevada fuels data center fight in governor’s race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSLatino voters reject Trump’s immigration policies — and detail the personal impact

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAs Democrats eye big midterm gains, the Wisconsin governor’s race remains a nail-biter

FOR SUBSCRIBERSU.S. military prepares new Iran war options ahead of midterm elections

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCIA probe into intel leak led to discovery of gold bars at agent’s home, sources say

Slide 1 of 1

Last month, Jordan issued another denial after deposition transcripts revealed that ex-OSU athletic director Andy Geiger testified under oath that Jordan “probably knew” that Strauss was abusing the wrestlers.

Jordan had also been deposed as part of the newly settled lawsuits. His testimony remains under seal. He did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment about the settlement Wednesday.