A former Olympic gymnastics coach is facing two dozen charges relating to the sexual abuse of underage athletes. John Geddert, who coached the U.S. women's gymnastics team at the 2012 Olympics, was charged with 20 counts of human trafficking and forced labor resulting in injury, one count of racketeering, two counts of criminal sexual conduct, and one count of lying to police by authorities in Michigan.

Authorities launched an investigation into Geddert after hearing allegations about him during Larry Nassar's sentencing hearing. Geddert allegedly knew about Nassar's sexual abuse of young women and did nothing to stop it. He is also accused of lying to investigators in 2016 when they were building a case against Nassar, who was sentenced to 175 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing ten minors.

Prosecutors claim that the two counts of criminal sexual conduct related to a 2012 incident in which he allegedly digitally penetrated a girl under the age of 16.

Authorities said Geddert's alleged abuse of the athletes caused them to suffer from severe trauma.

"John Geddert used force, fraud, and coercion against the young athletes that came to him for gymnastics training for financial benefit to him," Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said.

"The victims suffer from disordered eating, including bulimia and anorexia, suicide attempts and self-harm, excessive physical conditioning, repeatedly being forced to perform even when injured, extreme emotional abuse and physical abuse, including sexual assault. Many of these victims still carry these scars from his behavior to this day."

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