© 2026 ABC News

\"PHOTO:
Carolyn Kaster/AP
PHOTO: Former USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 5, 2018.
>

\"[Penny] contacted me at probably one of the most vulnerable times of my life,\" she said, noting that she was days away from taking the BAR exam, pregnant, working and taking care of her year-old daughter alone, while her husband worked overseas \"for months on end.\"

\"I hadn't even addressed or acknowledged my personal skeletons with Larry... I just felt indebted to [Penny]. Basically, because I was so vulnerable, he was able to manipulate me into just signing off on a statement that they drafted for me.\"

She said that she never heard from Penny again after the statement was released. According to Schwikert, Nassar abused her for the first time when she was 16 at the Olympic Games Training Camp at the Karolyi Ranch in 2000. She said she was assaulted more than 100 times until 2005.

\"Never in a million years would I think the doctor who is supposed to be treating me, and helping me, is telling me this medical advice, which is really just manipulation... to get me to believe that what he's doing is legit,\" she said.

Tasha Schwikert talked about her experience Thursday for the first time in an interview with ABC News. She hopes to speak out against what she described as an \"environment of fear\" that she said pervaded life at the Karolyi Ranch. She is now an attorney living in Las Vegas with her husband and two children.

She was joined Thursday by her sister, Jordan Schwikert, 31, also of Las Vegas, who was also a USA Gymnastics team member. Jordan Schwikert told ABC News that she was first abused by Nassar when she was 14, and that she had been assaulted more than 15 times.

\"To even think about it, it just makes me so disgusted inside. I don't even want to imagine that it even happened,\" Jordan Schwikert said. \"But when I was little, I would try to put it past me.\"

\"PHOTO:
AFP/Getty Images, FILE
PHOTO: Former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar stands in Ingham County Circuit Court on Nov. 22, 2017 in Lansing, Mich.
>

Jordan Schwikert said she was happy to have the opportunity tell her story with her sister, and that \"it would be a lot harder to come out by myself.\"

\"It's nice to have Tasha come out together... we just want to make a big impact and make change. We never want anyone to go through this. Coming out publicly, it's about helping other people.\"

Penny was arrested Wednesday in Tennessee for allegedly tampering with evidence in the case of Nassar.

He allegedly removed documents from the Karolyi Ranch, the former U.S. gymnastics' training facility in Huntsville, Texas, related to Nassar's activity at the gym.

\"The indictment further alleges that the removal of the documents was done for the purpose of impairing the ongoing investigation by destroying or hiding the documents,\" the U.S. Marshals said in a press release.

He allegedly ordered the documents be sent to him at USA Gymnastics headquarters in Indianapolis. Those documents have never been recovered, authorities said.

Penny resigned as USA Gymnastics president in March 2017 amid allegations of sexual abuse against Nassar.

\"PHOTO:
U.S. Marshals Service
PHOTO: The U.S. Marshals Service shared a photo of former USA Gymnastics President Steve Penny being arrested in Gatlinburg, Tenn., on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018, for allegedly tampering with evidence in the Larry Nassar case.
>

Nassar pleaded guilty in 2017 to seven counts of child molestation, but more than 130 women and girls, including Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman, have accused him of assaulting them.

Many of those accusers testified at a hearing in January when he was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison. He pleaded guilty in two other cases — one pertaining to assault and another possession of child pornography — as well.

In a statement from his attorney, Penny said that when the facts are known, it will be shown he did nothing criminal. He faces up to 10 years in prison. The attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Tasha Schwikert from ABC News.

On Thursday, USA Gymnastics also released a statement, saying that it had learned about the charges filed against Penny.

“We support law enforcement’s efforts and have fully cooperated with the investigations by the Texas Rangers, Congress and others, and will continue to do so to help the survivors and our community heal from this tragedy.”

ABC News' Mark Osborne and Ali Rogin contributed to the reporting in this story.

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