Twenty-six victims of sexual abuse from former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky will be paid a total of $59.7 million, Penn State announced on Monday.
After a year’s worth of negotiations, the university has agreed to pay the victims a settlement. They haven’t settled on a deal with each claim as of yet, but University President Rodney Erickson said in a statement that they hope this is a step in the right direction after the shocking scandal that struck the school.
“We hope this is another step forward in the healing process for those hurt by Mr. Sandusky, and another step forward for Penn State,” said Erickson, NBC News reports. Penn State still has six unresolved claims against them.
Sandusky was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being convicted on 45 counts of sexual abuse.
Penn State has already spent $50 million on this scandal, and the settlements to the victims will not be funded by tuition, taxpayer money or donations. Anything that is not covered by insurance will be taken care of by interest revenues.
Beloved football coach Joe Paterno was fired after the abuse accusations went public and was accused of not doing enough to stop it. He died just five months later.
image: Wikimedia Commons
