Penn State University has reached tentative settlements totaling about $60 million so far with men who claim to have been sexually abused by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, a trustee said Thursday.
The trustee, Ted Brown, said he was unsure of how many claims have been settled and how many remain in negotiations.
“We approved settlements for approximately $60 million,” Brown said. He said that figure does not cover every claim made and that he expected trustees to be asked to approve more when tentative agreements are reached.
The trustees voted last Friday to authorize members of a committee to approve settlements on the university’s behalf, without detailing how many accusers have come forward with sex-abuse claims involving Sandusky, how many have settled and how much money might be involved.
A person familiar with the discussions said Thursday that about 25 of 31 outstanding claims were covered by the approximately $60 million in settlements the trustees approved. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid giving information that the university has chosen not to reveal.
Brown said trustees were briefed on the dollar figure in private before the vote. School officials have said they will not publicly discuss specific figures until the deals have been made final, which could happen in the coming weeks.
The deals are limited to a range of dollar values that the board received in a closed-door session before their public meeting last Friday at a branch campus and another meeting held June 25.
Sandusky, 69, was convicted of 45 counts of child sexual abuse, including violent attacks on boys inside school facilities, after a three-week trial last summer in which eight victims testified against him. He is serving a 30- to 60-year prison term and maintains he was wrongfully convicted. He is pursuing appeals.
Since the allegations against Sandusky first came to light in late 2011, Penn State has been trying to rebuild its image, even as a bevy of lawsuits, criminal proceedings and NCAA penalties have engulfed the university and some of its former top officials.
Among the steps Penn State has taken was a university-commissioned report by Louis J. Freeh, a former FBI director, which found that university leaders disregarded the welfare of Sandusky’s victims.
“Today’s action is yet another important step toward the resolution of claims from Sandusky’s victims,” Rodney Erickson, the president of Penn State, said in a statement last week after the trustees’ vote. “As we have previously said, the university intends to deal with these individuals in a fair and expeditious manner, with due regard to their privacy.”
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