Confidential out-of-court settlements between USA Gymnastics and two gymnasts who "allege they were sexually abused by their coach contradict a recent assertion" by the NGB to a U.S. Senate subcommittee that the "organization has not used non-disclosure agreements as part of investigations," according to documents cited in a front-page piece by Scott Reid of the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. In the late '00s, then-USA Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny "approved six-figure financial settlement agreements with a former U.S. junior national team member and another gymnast" that included non-disclosure agreements. The NDAs followed a lawsuit and an investigation that found a West Coast coach "sexually abused the pair from age 12 into their teens." USA Gymnastics President & CEO Kerry Perry "denied USA Gymnastics used NDAs as part of investigations" in a Feb. 9 letter to U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 4/5). Meanwhile, in Houston, David Barron notes former USA Taekwondo national team coach Jean Lopez has been "declared permanently ineligible for association with Olympic sports in the United States, based on a finding by the U.S. Center for SafeSport that he engaged in ... sexual misconduct involving a minor" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 4/5).
