Gymnasts deserve real FbI probe
When USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar went to prison a couple of years ago for raping or sexually abusing more than 150 women and girls, there was no sense that justice had been done because the people who knew what he was doing and looked the other way were still walking free.
Congress just held a hearing to shine a light on some of those people – FBI officials who did little to investigate Nassar in 2015. The hearing focused on an Inspector General’s report that examined the FBI’s failings, though the FBI was not the first to fail Nassar’s victims.
Officials at Michigan State University, where Nassar was employed for many years, knew Nassar was a sex offender as far back as 1997. In one case, he recorded an incident where he drugged, raped and impregnated a scholarship athlete.
The victim told her coach, who went to Nassar, demanded the videotape, and reported the incident to the athletic director, George Perles. Perles forced the victim to return the tape to Nassar and made her sign a confidentiality agreement.
Between 1997 and 2014, Michigan State received 14 reports of sexual abuse by Nassar. They investigated only one and determined that no abuse occurred.
Nassar also worked for USA Gymnastics, in connection with which he sexually abused superstar Simone Biles. Biles says USA Gymnastics knew what Nassar was doing but did nothing to stop him. Olympian Rachael Denhollander was sexually abused by Nassar in 2000, but when she told her coach, he blamed and silenced her.
It was not until 2015 that USA Gymnastics finally reported an incident of Nassar’s abuse to the FBI. The victim was Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney, but the FBI didn’t interview her for months. When they did, Maroney told them Nassar raped her when she was 13 and drugged and raped her again when she was 15.
When Maroney was done explaining what happened, FBI agent Jay Abbott said, “is that all?” Abbot then did nothing with the case. He did, however, communicate with USA Gymnastics officials, and they told the victims not to worry because the FBI was handling it.
More than a year went by, and absolutely nothing was done. Abbott says he sat on the case because he did not believe there was federal jurisdiction, but if the feds don’t have jurisdiction, they are required to refer the case to state officials who do have jurisdiction. Abbott did not refer the case. When Congress asked the Inspector General why no referral was made, he said he had “no information” on that issue.
Between 2015 and the fall of 2016, while Abbott was doing nothing, Nassar sexually abused dozens of more victims.
The Michigan State University Police finally broke the case in September 2016 when they executed a search warrant on Nassar’s computer and found more than 37,000 images of child pornography. So much for no federal jurisdiction.
Nassar was arrested on federal child pornography charges, and prosecuted in state court for numerous sex crimes, including child rape. He pleaded guilty and will spend the rest of his life behind bars, but Jay Abbott, George Perles and countless others who enabled Nassar’s abuse still walk free.
When the Inspector General interviewed Abbott about his mishandling of the case, Abbott lied, which is a federal offense, but the Justice Department under Donald Trump and Joe Biden refused to prosecute him. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland declined an invitation by Congress to appear at the hearing and explain why.
Unless enablers are held accountable, what happened to Nassar’s victims will happen again.
One way to prevent another Nassar situation is to teach young people that when abuse is connected to institutions like universities, USA Gymnastics and even the FBI, victims must report outside the institution by calling 911 and reporting incidents to all relevant police and oversight agencies, in writing.
Victims should also file written reports internally, CC’ing all responsible officials including presidents, directors and board of trustee members. Victims must never report only in accordance with the institution’s policies because institutions are self-governing and selfcentered. Their reporting policies are designed to keep abuse secret so they can avoid scandal and lawsuits.
The FBI director told Congress new rules are in place to ensure that what happened with Nassar would never happen again. Nobody believes him. Changing a few rules does not change the system.
Changing the system requires a full understanding of why Nassar did what he did and why so many people looked away. To that end, Massachusetts native and Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman told Congress she wants a truly independent investigation that will expose the corruption and the money behind Nassar’s crime spree.
Nothing will give Nassar’s victims the pound of flesh they deserve, but a real investigation will at least give them the truth.