Chelsea cleared of breaking Premier League rules in handling of Gary Johnson sex abuse claims

Chelsea have been cleared of breaking Premier League rules in their handling of former youth player Gary Johnson's claims of sexual abuse suffered from former Chelsea head scout Eddie Heath in the 1970s.  Johnson first brought his claims to Chelsea a few years ago and the club eventually settled with him last summer for £50,000 and, what the club believed was standard practice, a confidentiality clause.

This clause was waived after the magnitude of the much wider sex abuse scandal started to become clear — 429 victims of 155 potential suspects at 148 clubs have now been identified, according to the National Police Chiefs' Council — and Johnson came forward to tell his story.  While most of this incident, as well as the wider scandal is still under investigation and will be for the foreseeable future by The FA and the police, the Premier League have apparently cleared Chelsea of any wrongdoing in how the club handled this case.

As reported by the Telegraph, Chelsea may have been in violation of league rules that required the club to report of any evidence of child abuse.  Presumably, punishments could've ranged from fines to points deductions.

Chelsea's international investigation is ongoing as well, while the club have also agreed to an independent safeguarding audit, the results of both of which will be shared with the Premier League and all other concerned parties.  The Premier League board added that while they're not concerned by Chelsea's "current provisions in this area", they feel that the review is an appropriate course of action.