Penn State Paid Paterno Estate $5.7M

Even though Penn State coach Joe Paterno was forced out of his job for his failure to help prevent suspected sex assaults by his assistant coach, his estate was paid $5.7 million by the university. The money covers contract and pension payments, including a $3 million retirement bonus that was part of a 2011 contract amendment, reports the Pennsylvania Centre Daily Times. That payment does not include a $1,000-a-month payment for life to Paterno's widow, Sue, nor an additional $900,000 in TV and radio revenue. The university board decided last year to honor the obligations, despite the cloud under which Paterno left.

The contract, which was honored in full, "recognized coach Paterno’s decades-long contributions to our football program and to the entire university," said a Penn State spokesman. The money was "indisputably owed" to the estate, he added. Paterno died early this year of lung cancer just months after he was fired when the board determined he did not do enough to help alleged victims of Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky is currently battling charges that he molested 10 young boys, including eight on campus, and five in Penn State's football headquarters. (More Penn State sex abuse stories.)