Jessica Wegg

Civil Rights Attorney

The Attorney who took down USA Gymnastics and Larry Nassar

Without Jessica’s tip to the IndyStar, Larry Nassar would not be behind bars

Jessica is devoted to making the world a better and fairer place. Truly a human rights lawyer, for the past decade Jessica’s practice has been focused on defending Civil Rights and protecting victims of institutional abuse within sports, schools, and churches. The majority of her work has been representing prisoners treated inhumanely and young athletes who have been molested by coaches controlled by the United States Olympic Committee. She was the original source to the Indianapolis Star for their series on sexual abuse in USA Gymnastics that exposed pedophile coaches and officials in USA Gymnastics, including Larry Nassar (the full story below).

Jessica has written and/or argued cases for the 7th and 9th Circuits Court of Appeals, Federal Courts of Michigan, Indiana, Arizona, and California among others, as well as the Indiana Court of Appeals and Supreme Court. She is often called upon by law firms around the United States and Canada to research and brief complex legal issues.

Jessica earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and German from the University of Indianapolis in 2004 before being awarded her Masters in Clinical Psychology in 2006. She spent three years working as the lead clinician at a private neuropsychology clinic in Indianapolis, where she administered cognitive and neuropsychological assessments to a wide range of the population, including convicted criminals before earning her law degree from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis. During law school she was an Articles Editor for the Indiana Law Review and her note, Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: Why Ethanol Production Must be Regulated and How to Do It, was published in the University of Baltimore Journal of Environmental Law in 2008. Her law review article Illegal Aliens and Worker’s Compensation Issues was published in Res Gestate in 2010.

Jessica is running for office in Comox, British Columbia, where she lives with her husband, two children, and two dogs. Click on the picture to visit her campaign website.

  • Click the links below to learn more about each practice area

    Civil Rights

    Sexual Abuse

    Athlete Abuse

  • US States:

    Illinois

    Indiana

    US Federal Courts

    US Supreme Court

    7th Circuit Court of Appeals

    9th Circuit Court of Appeals

    Northern District of Illinois

    Northern District of New York

    Eastern District of Michigan

    Northern and Southern District of Indiana

    Canadian Jurisdictions:

    British Columbia, Canada

    Ontario, Canada

  • IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law

    University of Indianapolis

Taking Down USA Gymnastics and Larry Nassar

How public access to court files and the Fourth Branch of government changed everything.

Knowing USA Gymnastics (and practically every Olympic sport) had drawers of sexual abuse complaints against coaches, Jessica and Jon Little tried to raise alarm bells in Indianapolis, where USA Gymnastics is headquartered. Jon begged every official in Indianapolis to do something about the sexual abuse of children within USA Gymnastics, but no matter who he told, nothing ever happened. Then Jessica saw an opportunity to expose USA Gymnastics to the world.

When USA Gymnastics forgot to seal a court document in a case Jon was working on, making the coach complaints public record, Jessica called a reporter with the Indianapolis Star and told her she had to get to Georgia before the mistake was realized. The Star took the tip and ran with it, exposing a scandal of epic proportions. Over a thousand pages of court records proved that over 50 USA Gymnastics coaches, officials, and employees had molested an untold number of girls but USA Gymnastics routinely dismissed these complaints unless they were signed—a policy that enabled the predatory coaches.

Emboldened after years of staying silent by the IndyStar expose, Rachel Denhollander contacted the reporters and came forward with her story of abuse at the hands of Larry Nassar. She also worked relentlessly with Michigan State University Police to ensure that Larry was finally brought to justice in our criminal system after multiple reports of sexual abuse were dismissed by police and USA Gymnastics. More than 265 women ultimately came forward to report they had been sexually abused as girls by Larry. Once Olympic Gold Medalists began coming forward, the problem could no longer be ignored; laws were changed to give more protection to athletes and the people who were at the very top who let this happen were finally held accountable. And while this is a start—there is still much to be done to combat sexual abuse in elite sports and other institutions.

Get in touch with Jessica.

Send Jessica a personal messaging using the form to the right. But please remember this does not constitute an attorney-client relationships. And while all efforts will be made to maintain the confidentiality of your message, confidentiality cannot be guaranteed to the same extent as our clients.