George Clooney will produce the docs about the sexual abuse of the athletes where the coach Jim Jordan was

Actor George Clooney is producing a documentary about decades of reported sexual abuse of athletes at Ohio State University, where Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) was once the assistant coach of the wrestling team.

The series will be based on a Sports Illustrated article by writer Jon Wertheim last year that addresses the allegations against the late Ohio sports doctor Richard Strauss – and the lack of response from officials.

The university said in its 2019 annual crime report that Strauss committed at least 1,429 sexual assaults and 47 rapes during his 20-year term. Strauss was never charged and died by suicide in 2005.

The docs can’t be welcome news for Jordan, who was the assistant coach of the Ohio wrestling team from 1987 to 1995. At least three athletes and a referee claimed to have discussed the abuse directly with Jordan, but did not take action to stop it. Jordan denied being told about any abuse or knowing about it.

One of the victims in the Sports Illustrated story claimed that Jordan knowingly ignored Strauss’s abuse.

A single Jordan captain said in an interview with Joy Reid from MSNBC last year that the scandal would “get worse” just for Jordan.

Former fighter Adam DiSabato told Reid that Jordan had repeatedly called him to ask him to contradict DiSabato’s own brother’s statement in 2018 that he had told Jordan of sexual abuse. DiSabato said Jordan was fully aware that Strauss molested athletes during exercise.

Sexual abuse was “blatant knowledge throughout the wrestling team,” he told Reid.

Hundreds of athletes have filed lawsuits against the university for ignoring allegations of sexual abuse. A lawsuit mentions cases in which Strauss “drugs and rapes athletes” and claims that Strauss also robbed underage boys who participated in athletic events on campus.

A referee said in a 2019 trial that Strauss masturbated in front of him in the shower after a college wrestling match – and that he reported Jordan’s meeting. “Yes, this is Strauss,” Jordan and then-head coach Russ Hellickson responded, according to the lawsuit.

The state of Ohio agreed in May last year to pay $ 41 million for 162 victims’ lawsuits.

Sports Illustrated Studios and 101 Studios are producing the series about the scandal with Clooney’s Smokehouse Pictures, Variety reported. The docking station has not yet found an outlet, according to The Hollywood Reporter.