More than 300 accuse former Ohio State doctor of sex abuse

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More than 300 accuse former Ohio State doctor of sex abuse

Postby seemslikeadream » Sat Aug 24, 2019 9:53 am

More than 300 people accuse former Ohio State doctor of sex abuse
Ohio State has acknowledged its "fundamental failure" to prevent abuse by Richard Strauss, apologized publicly to the survivors.

Aug. 23, 2019, 12:58 PM CDT
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Lawyers for men suing Ohio State University over decades-old alleged sexual misconduct by a team doctor say the growing number of accusers has topped 300.

Totals confirmed to The Associated Press put the group's size in the same ballpark as the initial wave of plaintiffs who got $425 million from Michigan State University to settle claims related to Larry Nassar, the now-imprisoned gymnastics doctor accused of molesting hundreds of women and girls.

Of the 300-plus men in the Ohio State matter, some still plan to sue and more than half already are listed plaintiffs in federal lawsuits alleging school officials knew of concerns about the late doctor, Richard Strauss, during his tenure but did little to stop him.
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Image: Richard Strauss
The 1978 employment application information for Dr. Richard Strauss, from Ohio State University's personnel files.Ohio State University via AP
"This is, from our perspective, aside from the Catholic Church, one of the biggest sexual misconduct cases in the country," attorney Michael Wright said Friday.

Wright said his legal team is representing over 100 men, most of them former football players and other Buckeye athletes who say they were sexually abused by Strauss. Many of those aren't among the 177 men who provided firsthand accounts of sexual abuse by Strauss to the law firm that began investigating allegations for the university last year, Wright said.

Many of the men who have publicly recounted their experiences, including the ex-wrestler who spurred the investigation, allege they were fondled during medical exams. Their claims span 1979 to 1997 — nearly all of Strauss' Ohio State career — and include Strauss' work with the athletic department, the student health center and his off-campus men's clinic.
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Michael DiSabato, right, speaks with other victims of former Ohio State team doctor Dr. Richard Strauss, at the university's board meeting on Nov. 16, 2018, in Columbus.Adam Cairns / The Columbus Dispatch via AP file
The investigating firm, Perkins Coie, didn't proactively reach out to possible victims, citing concern for potentially retraumatizing them. But the list of accusers has continued to grow as Ohio State publicized the investigation, alumni began sharing stories, and lawyers for the initial plaintiffs advertised a push to hold the university accountable.

The lawsuits against Ohio State are now in mediation toward a potential settlement. The lawyers involved won't publicly discuss the negotiations.

Ohio State has acknowledged its "fundamental failure" to prevent abuse by Strauss, apologized publicly to the survivors and said it is committed to the mediation process.

The investigation and the related litigation have cost the university about $7.8 million so far, spokesman Ben Johnson said.

No one has publicly defended the doctor, who killed himself in 2005. In a statement after the investigation findings were shared in May, Strauss' family offered condolences to the abuse survivors.

Strauss retired from the university in 1998 with emeritus status, an honorary label revoked this year by school trustees.

The State Medical Board had an investigation involving Strauss near the end of his Ohio State career but never disciplined him, and the details have remained confidential. A state panel tasked with reviewing the handling of that old case has yet to report its findings.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mo ... e-n1045836
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Re: More than 300 accuse former Ohio State doctor of sex abu

Postby 82_28 » Sat Aug 24, 2019 5:41 pm

Apropos of probably nothing but this is in the news now as well regarding OSU:

The Ohio State University wants to trademark its favorite word: ‘The’

Ohio State is serious about calling itself “The” Ohio State University. The grammatical article is right there on many of the school’s seal, logos and signs. Now the university has gotten so serious about that three-letter word that it has sought to trademark it.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2 ... rite-word/
There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi
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Re: More than 300 accuse former Ohio State doctor of sex abu

Postby seemslikeadream » Sun Aug 25, 2019 8:29 pm

Rep. Jim Jordan Is Named in New OSU Sexual Abuse Lawsuit
A new class action lawsuit on behalf of former athletes has named the Ohio congressman for failing to prevent sexual abuse perpetrated by a university doctor

Bob Moser July 18, 2018 10:08AM ET
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Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, questions FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok during the House Committees on the Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform hearing on "Oversight of FBI and DOJ Actions Surrounding the 2016 Election," on Capitol Hill, in WashingtonTrump Russia Probe Congress, Washington, USA - 12 Jul 2018
Evan Vucci/AP/REX/Shutterstock
In the two weeks since former Ohio State wrestlers began to make public allegations about being repeatedly molested and assaulted by team doctor Richard Strauss, Congressman Jim Jordan – who spent eight years as an assistant wrestling coach at the school – has repeatedly claimed any suggestion that he was previously aware of the abuse is “fake news.” As I wrote here on Monday, the former wrestlers, who say Jordan knew they were being abused and took no action to stop it, have been slandered repeatedly by the congressman and his reflexive right-wing defenders – including accusations that the former wrestlers are part of either a “deep state” conspiracy or paid for by the Democratic Party to take down the powerful founder of the House Freedom Caucus. President Trump and several members of Congress, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, have leapt to Jordan’s defense, claiming he’s just not the kind of guy who would sit idly by while his wrestlers were preyed upon.

On Tuesday, Jordan’s public-relations crisis became a legal nightmare. Attorneys filed a massive class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Ohio against Ohio State University on behalf of an as-yet-unnamed former OSU wrestler. The law firm Sauder Schelkopf is seeking to represent all the students and athletes “treated” by Strauss in his two decades at the school, from the late ‘70s to the late ‘90s – a number they estimate will amount to “at least 1,500.”

Jordan, the jut-jawed Republican and anti-gay crusader in the House, is singled out in the suit: He’s one of only three former school officials named, including Strauss, though the action is aimed at all the coaches, administrators and others in positions of responsibility at OSU who, it claims, stood by while students and student-athletes were repeatedly “sexually abused, harassed, and molested,” and “forced” to seek treatment from a well-known predator even after they complained. (Strauss was the sole team doctor for the wrestlers; the men say they either had to choose to let injuries go untreated, as the lawsuit says some did, or subject themselves to yet another assault.)

The lead plaintiff, “John Doe,” says he was groped, assaulted and molested at least 20 times. The other wrestlers have told reporters how Strauss allegedly used any excuse to make them expose themselves and grope them, and the lawsuit adds some sickening details:

“On one occasion, Plaintiff suffered a rib injury while wrestling and made an appointment to see Dr. Strauss for treatment. Dr. Strauss instructed Plaintiff to drop his pants so he could examine Plaintiff’s scrotum for a hernia. Plaintiff was young and believed that Dr. Strauss’ actions were medically necessary, but felt violated and helpless.”

The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that Strauss also took photographs of the men he was forcing to disrobe unnecessarily. It describes how he “regularly touched students’ genitals and breast areas, often at the same time, regularly measured students’ scrotums, all for the purpose of his own sexual arousal and gratification, and for no legitimate medical purpose and for no other reason than to satisfy his own sexual desires.” You can read the lawsuit here in its entirety.

So far, as more former wrestlers, including UFC champion Mark Coleman, have stepped out and told their stories, Jordan has wielded his mastery of right-wing media to try and inoculate himself against this career-threatening scandal. The congressman managed to contain the fallout from an eerily similar revelation last November, when one of his longtime Washington aides and protégées, Ohio state Rep. Wesley Goodman, was publicly unmasked as one of the capitol city’s most notorious sexual predators, stalking and abusing at least 30 young conservative men he promised to “mentor.” This was huge news in Ohio, but was buried nationally beneath the daily drumbeat of Trump atrocities.

The Goodman scandal alone could have been enough to force Jordan out of Congress. In April, Elizabeth Esty, a Democratic representative from Connecticut, had to resign because she kept a former chief of staff on her payroll for three months after another former aide accused him of harassment. The well-documented accusations against Goodman are much, much broader. He reportedly harassed or assaulted at least 30 young men. Jordan adamantly denied that he had any knowledge of Goodman’s notorious reputation – just as he’s now claiming, against the word of his ex-wrestlers, that he had no clue that Strauss (who committed suicide in 2005) was groping the athletes.

In recent public comments on the allegations, Jordan appeared to be banking on his former wrestlers’ silence and shame. But if he believed he could humiliate them back into submission, he was sorely mistaken. At least nine have spoken out so far. Dozens more will almost certainly be telling their stories in criminal and civil court along with Strauss’ hundreds of other alleged victims from 13 Ohio State teams. (A separate lawsuit was filed by four former wrestlers on Monday; this one didn’t call out Jordan by name, but he will almost certainly become involved if the case goes forward.)

Back home, where Jordan’s political future will be determined, local media are determined not to let him slide. “No more denials. Jim Jordan must acknowledge what he knew,” the Cleveland Plain Dealer editorialized this past weekend. Jordan has made it clear, though, that the truth will have to be pried out of him. (He says he is cooperating with independent investigators hired by Ohio State, though what he tells them may never become public.) If either or both of these lawsuits lands him in court, it will be.

Editor’s Note: This story has been revised to reflect a pair of corrections. Rep. Jim Jordan is not a member of Republican leadership in the House and the earliest accusations that Wesley Goodman harassed or assaulted young men took place two years after Goodman left Jordan’s office.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... te-700578/
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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