USC Pays $1.1 Billion to Settle Sex Abuse Allegations

The University of Southern California (USC) has agreed to pay a staggering $1.1 billion to those who accused a former USC gynecologist of repeated sexual abuse.

USC is settling a lawsuit by paying more than $1 billion to former patients of campus gynecologist George Tyndall. The settlement is the largest sex abuse payout in higher education history, according to a report by Los Angeles Times.

The amount was revealed late last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, after lawyers for a group of hundreds of women suing the university told a judge they had settled for $852 million.

The report added that USC had also previously agreed to pay thousands of other alumni and students $215 million in a federal class action settlement, and that another group of about 50 other cases was settled for an amount that has not been made public.

When combined with the earlier settlement, USC has agreed to pay out more than $1 billion for claims against Tyndall, who worked at the school for nearly three decades.

Tyndall was stripped of his medical license and arrested after his troubled history at the student health clinic on campus was exposed three years ago, reports Los Angeles Times.

The 74-year-old has pled not guilty to dozens of sexual assault charges and is awaiting trial.

In June 2019, Tyndall was arrested and charged with 18 counts of sexual penetration and 11 counts of sexual battery by fraud, in cases involving 16 women, according to a report by NBC News.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys later provided evidence that university officials had known about problems with the gynecologist for decades, but failed to remove him, notes Los Angeles Times.

The report added that within a few years of Tyndall arriving on campus, clinic supervisors learned from a patient and colleagues that the physician had been taking photos of students’ genitals. Photos were also found in Tyndall’s personal storage unit, and in his office.

Nursing “chaperones,” who were told to monitor his exams, had also complained that Tyndall used a curtain to obscure their view. Students also said the gynecologist asked salacious questions about their sex lives, and made suggestive comments about their bodies.

Nursing staff had also reported for years that Tyndall was touching students inappropriately during vaginal exams, and at that least one colleague had threatened to go to the police.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler @alana, and on Instagram.