The American University of Southern California (USC) pays a total of 852 million dollars (725 million euros) to 700 women who accuse a gynecologist of sexual abuse.
According to American media, this is a record amount for an abuse scandal at a university. Together with the amount of an earlier settlement, which gave 18,000 patients a claim for damages, the university in Los Angeles has now lost more than a billion dollars in the scandal.
The center of attention is now 74-year-old gynecologist George Tyndall, who worked in college for nearly thirty years. 700 women came forward with complaints of sexual abuse, but Tyndall is being prosecuted for abusing 35 women between 2009 and 2016. The rest of the cases are time-barred or there is insufficient evidence. Tyndall can be sentenced to 64 years in prison. He denies being guilty.
The case came to light in 2018, when it became known that Tyndall had already been suspended in 2016 on a rape allegation. A year later he left the university with a silent drum and a large sum of money.
Larry Nassar
Victims also want the university to be prosecuted, because it is said to have known of Tyndall’s abuse. In 2019 there was a change of the guard at the top of the university, partly because of this scandal.
The case is similar to that against sports doctor Larry Nassar. Nassar was the American gymnastics doctor and professor at Michigan State University. He abused hundreds of girls and women over decades. The university settled for $ 500 million with 300 victims.
