Ex-USA Gymnastics President Pleads the 5th to Questions on Athlete Sexual Abuse at Hearing

Steve Penny resigned in March 2017 following pressure on the organization for its handling of sexual abuse cases.

Ex-USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny pleaded the Fifth on Tuesday, refusing to answer questions on athlete sexual abuse related to former team doctor Larry Nassar.

According to The New York Times' Juliet Macur, Penny walked out of a Senate subcommittee hearing, asserting his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself. 

Former Michigan State president Lou Anna Simon also appeared before the subcommittee, and she said the release of the university's internal investigation on the Nassar scandal is up to the school's Board of Trustees, reportsThe Athletic’s Katie Strong. 

The hearing was rescheduled after Penny originally didn't agree to appear.

Penny resigned in March 2017 following pressure on the organization for its handling of sexual abuse cases. He’s named as a defendant in a number of lawsuits by Olympic gymnasts who were abused by Nassar.

Nassar abused about 300 victims, according to court records observed by the Free Press. He was sentenced up to 175 years on Michigan state charges of sexual assault, to go along with a sentence of 40 to 125 years in prison on three counts of sexual assault with another 60–year sentence on federal child-pornography charges.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.