Former Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon was charged on Tuesday in Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse case.
According to NPR, Simon has been charged with two misdemeanor and two felony counts of lying to police over the way the school handled the complaint against the disgraced physician.
The court warrant alleges the ex-president of concealing the information regarding the investigation launched against Nassar in 2014. She had told the police that she didn’t know that the physician under investigation was Nassar.
“The charges brought against Lou Anna Simon today illustrate her desire to first and foremost protect her own position and institution, even when it came in direct conflict with doing right by Michigan State athletes in the wake of repeated abuse claims at the hands of Larry Nassar,” U.S. Senators Jerry Moran and Richard Blumenthal, who head the subcommittee investigating university’s response to Nassar complaints, told ESPN.
Simon will appear before the court next Monday to answer charges filed against her.
Last year, she tendered her resignation after 54-year-old Nassar was sentenced to 40-175 years in prison over three child pornography and 10 sexual assault charges.
“The last year and a half has been very difficult for the victims of Larry Nassar, for the university community, and for me personally. To the survivors, I can never say enough that I am so sorry that a trusted, renowned physician was really such an evil, evil person who inflicted such harm under the guise of medical treatment. I know that we all share the same resolve to do whatever it takes to avert such tragedies here and elsewhere,” Simon wrote in her resignation letter.
Earlier this year, the university agreed to settle the lawsuit by paying $500 million to 332 victims of sexual abuse, making it one of the biggest settlement in the history of universities across the country.
Michigan State Seeks Stay on New Lawsuits Against Larry Nassar
