Report: Penn State approves $60 million to settle Jerry Sandusky victim claims
Former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of sexual abuse in 2012. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
Penn State’s board of trustees has authorized about $60 million to be spent in settling many of the outstanding victim claims in the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse case, according to a New York Timesreport.
Details of the potential settlements were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
A spokesman for Penn State told the Times the university “does not comment or confirm information on settlements.”
The settlement of about 25 cases of various size could be completed within the next month, two sources told the Times. They would come a little more than a year after former assistant coach Sandusky was found guilty of 45 counts of sexual abuse and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.
An internal investigation into how Penn State employees responded to Sandusky's child abuse produced a 267-page report by former FBI director Louis Freeh, which was released last July. Freeh and his law firm, Freeh, Sporkin & Sullivan, were hired by Penn State to conduct the investigation and found that university leaders, including the late former head football coach Joe Paterno, disregarded the welfare of Sandusky’s victims.
The Penn State board's action follows last week's approval of a resolution allowing the university to make settlement offers to some of the people making claims.
From the Times:
“Today’s action is yet another important step toward the resolution of claims from Sandusky’s victims,” Rodney Erickson, the president of Penn State, said in a statement last week. “As we have previously said, the university intends to deal with these individuals in a fair and expeditious manner, with due regard to their privacy.”
