DOJ Report Reveals FBI Negligence and Falsehoods in Larry Nassar Case
The report reveals top-down negligence and lies throughout the handling of one of the biggest abuse cases in U.S. sports history.
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A long-awaited Department of Justice report on the handling of the sexual assault case against former national Olympics team doctor Larry Nassar has revealed that FBI agents disregarded allegations by Olympic gymnasts that they were sexually assaulted and later made false statements to cover their mistakes, reports the Wall Street Journal. Indianapolis field office agents received the brunt of the blame: according to the report, agents there were unsure if the allegations against Nassar represented a possible federal crime. They were also unsure how to handle concerns that had been brought to them in Indianapolis—the city where USA Gymnastics is headquartered—when there were no allegations of Nassar treating gymnasts there.
According to the report, the Indianapolis agents did not formally document their July 2015 meeting with the USA Gymnastics officials, which came after the gymnastics body had conducted its own five-week internal inquiry into concerns about Nassar, and only spoke with one gymnast, McKayla Maroney. The interview with Maroney, which was conducted over the phone, was not properly documented until February 2017, and agents did not follow up with other gymnasts. The report also details multiple false statements to internal FBI investigators by Indianapolis agents, including the special agent in charge of the office, Jay Abbott, and a supervisory special agent who is not named, dating to the earliest days of the gymnasts’ complaints. Attorneys for many of the gymnasts who have filed lawsuits over their abuse by Nassar said they wanted to see criminal charges brought against Abbott and the supervisory special agent.
