According to a new report, the FBI received “a number” of reports that the USA Gymnastics doctor had been molesting his underage patients, but allowed the abuse to continue over the course of months while dragging its feet with the investigation.
The report found that back in 2015, after an internal review, USA Gymnastics reported a number of incidents of sexual abuse to the FBI in Indianapolis, and though there was a bit of “limited follow-up” there was no other activity for eight months afterward, during which Nassar was still sexually abusing children. More than 330 victims have come forward to say that Nassar used his authority as a volunteer physician within the USA Gymnastics organization and his employment with Michigan State University as a cover for sexually abusing them.
The 119-page report by the Department of Justice Inspector General also found that in addition to doing nothing with the Larry Nassar investigation, the FBI also lied their asses off during the investigation and one was even trying to cozy up to the Olympic Committee while actively not doing his job at the FBI, according to the BBC:
“Confronted by their mistakes, two FBI officials lied during interviews to cover up their errors, the report said. At the time the allegations surfaced, one of the FBI agents, Jay Abbott, had been in discussions with USA Gymnastics officials about a job with the Olympic Committee. Mr Abbott retired from the agency in 2018.”
And for allowing hundreds of girls to get molested while they did absolutely nothing, the FBI says that they are awfully sorry and will try to investigate crimes the next time someone tells them that a crime is happening:
“In a statement on Wednesday, the FBI acknowledged the findings of the report, calling the handling of the Nassar file ‘inexcusable and a discredit to this organisation. We will take all necessary steps to ensure that the failures of the employees outlined in the report do not happen again,’ the agency said.”
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Of course, the FBI is not the only organization that played a part in helping Nassar, currently serving a 300-year prison sentence, to operate as a pedophile for decades. Michigan State knew about the abuse as early as 1997, when former head gymnastics coach Kathie Klages threatened a teenager with “serious consequences” when she tried to report Nassar. Reportedly, the Olympic Committee found out around the same time and actively discouraged looking into it. Michigan State has paid out over $500 million to women the university allowed Nassar to molest when they were children. USA Gymnastics was sued by 517 more and offered a $215 million dollar settlement, proposing that the payouts vary based on how “elite” the child Nassar abused was. Larry Nassar did not act alone, and the organizations that sheltered him while he continued didn’t malfunction by making the victims suspects while giving the abuser the benefit of the doubt. They operated exactly as they’re built to.
