Dr. Larry Nassar is the former athletic director for Michigan State University and also for USA Gymnastics, the organization responsible for preparing and sending gymnasts to the Olympics. Nassar was also arrested in November of 2016 on three counts of sexual abuse against a minor, and the following investigation exposed his extensive child pornography collection and close to 60 victims.
NBC News reports that a federal case against Nassar will begin on Tuesday, filed by 16 of his alleged victims. Michigan State University is also named in the suit accusing them of turning their back on the abuse Nassar allegedly conducted under the guise of his sports medicine practice with MSU. The University investigated a charge against Nassar in 2014 that was never prosecuted, after a woman complained. The specifics of her complaint are not mentioned, but following the incident rules were put in place that doctors must always use “gloves and a chaperone during intravaginal treatments.” The university fired Nassar last Fall, saying a new investigation suggested he had not complied with these requirements.
The Indianapolis Star has done extensive reporting on USA Gymnastics and the many issues with sexual abuse the organization has covered up or ignored in last several decades. The scandal around Nassar erupted when two formal patients told The Indy Star that he had used medical treatments as a guise to molest them. Since then, at least 60 women have filed complaints against Nassar. USA Gymnastics has said they fired Nassar and reported him to the FBI in the summer of 2015, in response to athlete’s concerns, though those concerns are also unspecified. Michigan State University says USA Gymnastics never notified them about Nassar’s conduct.
Nassar is currently being held without bail, by the ruling of Magistrate Judge Raymond Kent, who said that though he didn’t believe Nassar was a flight risk, he feared him being on the streets. Judge Kent said, “We simply can’t have somebody like him free in the community with access to children as young as six years old.”