A professional referee has alleged in a new lawsuit that Rep. Jim Jordan, then an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University, shrugged when told that team doctor Richard Strauss was masturbating in front of wrestlers in the shower.
NBC News reports: ‘“Yeah, that’s Strauss,” Jordan and then-head coach Russ Hellickson replied, according to the lawsuit, when the referee, identified in court papers as John Doe 42, told them about the incident. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Ohio, implies that Jordan’s response to the incident, which the referee said happened in 1994, was essentially a shrug. John Doe 42 is the second person to say he told Jordan directly about either being approached or molested by Strauss, who was found by independent investigators to have sexually abused 177 male students over two decades. … John Doe 42 said that when he informed Jordan and Hellickson about what happened, their response was, “Yeah, yeah, we know.”’
The lawsuit was filed by 43 sexual abuse survivors against Ohio State University. The lawsuit alleges that Strauss drugged and raped athletes according to NBC News.
Multiple wrestlers have accused Jordan of willfully ignoring sexual abuse by Strauss. Jordan has denied knowing about it.
Said Jordan in July 2018: “I’m telling the truth. Look, I stood up to the Speaker of the House from my home state, stood up the IRS and have stood up to the FBI. To think that I would not stand up for my athletes is ridiculous.”
