The Justice Department’s watchdog found the FBI repeatedly botched its handling of sexual abuse allegations against former USA gymnastics physician Larry Nassar.
According to the inspector general’s report released on Wednesday, bureau officials starting in 2015 didn’t take serious claims against the coach, who plead guilty in 2017 to federal charges of child pornography and tampering. Combined with a guilty plea in Michigan state court to three counts of sexual assault, Nassar, 57, is set to spend the rest of his life in prison.
According to the report by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, the FBI also failed to alert local authorities about Nassar’s abuses, covered up their missteps, and lied to investigators.
Nassar worked as a physician and professor at Michigan State University, treating patients from 1996 to 2016. During most of that time, he also worked as the USA Gymnastics national medical coordinator, treating athletes at the USA Gymnastics National Team Training Center in Texas.
Nassar worked in Michigan as the physician for Twistars USA Gymnastics and at Holt High School.
USA Gymnastics conducted an internal investigation into sexual assault allegations leveled against Nassar. And USA Gymnastics CEO Stephen Penny, Jr. alerted the FBI’s Indianapolis Field Office in July 2015.
But the FBI did little to follow up.
“These failures by Indianapolis officials contributed to a delay of over a year in the proper FBI field office and local authorities initiating investigations that ultimately determined that Nassar had engaged in widespread sexual assaults of over 100 victims and possessed child pornography, led to convictions in both federal and state court and resulted in jail sentences totaling over 100 years,” Horowitz wrote.
Former Indianapolis Field Office Special Agent in Charge W. Jay Abbott came in for particular scrutiny and criticism by the IG.
The inquiry “concluded that Abbott violated FBI policy and exercised extremely poor judgment under federal ethics rules.” Specifically, when Abbott “communicated with Penny about a potential job opportunity with the U.S. Olympic Committee” while continuing to discuss the FBI’s Nassar investigation with Penny.
“Abbott should have known — and we found that he in fact did know — that this conduct would raise questions regarding his impartiality and create the appearance of a conflict of interest,” the report said. “Making matters worse, Abbott applied for the position with the U.S. Olympic Committee and then falsely denied that he did so during two OIG interviews.”
The IG report drew ire from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the top Senate Judiciary Committee Republican, called upon FBI Director Christopher Wray “to hold the bad actors accountable.”
Grassley, a longtime bureau critic, said, “We should be able to count on the FBI to take allegations of sexual abuse seriously and act swiftly to investigate and hold perpetrators accountable. Today’s report confirms my fears that, in this case, the FBI failed to live up to its mission.”
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FBI Assistant Director Douglas Leff told Horowitz’s office on Tuesday the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility was investigating further.
“The FBI will never lose sight of the harm that Nassar’s abuse caused,” the FBI said in a Wednesday statement. “The actions and inactions of certain FBI employees described in the report are inexcusable and a discredit to this organization. The FBI has taken affirmative steps to ensure and has confirmed that those responsible for the misconduct and breach of trust no longer work FBI matters.”
