Matt Mencarini

Lansing State Journal

GRAND RAPIDS - A federal judge Thursday granted 19 motions filed by women or girls seeking to join the federal lawsuit against Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics and Larry Nassar.

The lawsuit, filed Jan. 10 in federal court in Grand Rapids, started with 18 women and girls and two law firms. Those firms moved to add four more women to the lawsuit the following week. And since Jan. 27, three other law firms have filed a combined 19 motions to add their 27 clients.

The judge's order brings the total number of women or girls involved in the federal lawsuit who say Nassar sexually assaulted them to 49.

Since September, Nassar, 53, of Holt, has been accused of sexually assaulting more than 80 women or girls, many of whom say they were assaulted decades ago and during medical appointments.

At least 54 women and girls have filed lawsuits against Nassar, MSU or USA Gymnastics since September, the vast majority as part of the large federal lawsuit. Twistar's gymnastics club in Dimondale is also named in the federal lawsuit.

Nassar worked for decades at MSU and with USA Gymnastics. The university fired him in September and he left USA Gymnastics in 2015 with little notice. He volunteered at Twistars.

Nearly all of the women and girls who have filed lawsuits say in court documents that Nassar sexually assaulted them during medical appointments and the assaults that included digital vaginal and anal penetration without gloves, consent or lubrication.

Nassar faces 28 criminal charges, 22 of which are sexual assault charges that relate to his role as a doctor. Police and prosecutors said those criminal included digital vaginal and anal penetration without gloves, consent or lubrication.

Nassar also faces three sexual assault charges unrelated to his role as a doctor and three federal charges for obtaining, possessing and destroying child pornography.

Here’s a timeline of Nassar’s decades-long career and the allegations against him. This will continue to be updated.

Full coverage of the Larry Nassar case can be found here.

ContactMatt Mencarini at (517) 267-1347 or mmencarini@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter@MattMencarini. Contact him on Signal, a messaging app with end-to-end encryption, at 517-281-1939.