Lawyer for Ariana Kukors says there are ‘over a hundred Larry Nassars in swimming’
Feb 9, 2018, 9:48 AM | Updated: 9:53 am
Ariana Kukors. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)
(AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)
The lawyer for former Olympic swimmer Ariana Kukors, who is accusing ex-Olympic swim coach Sean Hutchison of child sex abuse, says this is bigger than just Arianna’s story.
“What you’re seeing with Larry Nassar in gymnastics is no different than what’s happened in swimming,” Robert Allard said. “There are well over a hundred Larry Nassars in swimming.”
Nassar is the disgraced former USA gymnastics doctor who molested hundreds of female athletes.
Allard says they’re waiting for police to finish combing through Sean Hutchison’s confiscated computers and phones in his Seattle home before deciding on a lawsuit. He says their No. 1 goal is to put a potential predator behind bars.
Hutchison allegedly took nude photos of Kukors when she was 17. In a statement, she says Hutchison groomed her for sexual abuse and assaulted her during trips and while training.
Hutchison says his relationship with Kukors was consensual and only when she was of legal age.
Kukors wrote a detailed account of her life while training with Hutchison. You can read it in its entirety here.
In her account, she says she never thought she would share her story, “because in so many ways, just surviving was enough. I was able to leave a horrible monster, and build a life I could have never imagined for myself. But in time, I’ve realized that stories like my own are too important to go unwritten. Not for the sake of you knowing my story, but for the sake of the little girls and boys whose lives and futures hang in the grasp of a horribly powerful and manipulative person. That they may not have to go through the same pain, trauma, horror, and abuse. That their parents, mentors, and guardians are better able to spot the signs of grooming and realize its tragic consequences before it’s too late. “
