Olympic Committee Hires Outside Investigator In Nassar Scandal

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — An independent investigator will look into when both the U.S. Olympics Committee and USA Gymnastics became aware of decades-old allegations that former team doctor Larry Nassar sexually molested gymnasts under the guise of “medically necessary” treatment.

USOC said in a statement Friday that it has hired the Ropes & Gray law firm to lead the investigation. Joan McPhee and James Dowden, both partners of the firm and former federal prosecutors experienced in sexual abuse cases.

Olympic gymnasts and others have blasted both organizations for ignoring athletes’ reports that Nassar molested them. Nassar is facing more victims in a Michigan courtroom this week after he was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison last week on three state criminal sexual conduct felony charges, and prosecutors have recommended a term of 40-125 years in prison. He was previously sentenced to 60 years in prison on federal pornography charges.

The Colorado Springs-based Olympic Committee’s decision to hire the outside investigators came after news reports that the organization was told of the brewing scandal involving Nassar in 2015, two months after Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics was alerted, NBC News reported.

"USA Gymnastics has recently been made aware of potential sexual misconduct committed against one or more of its national team athletes by a member of its medical staff," the sport’s governing body wrote in a summary of the situation emailed to Olympic Committee chief security officer Larry Buendorf in September 2015. "Such misconduct allegedly occurred at international competitions held overseas and various locations in the United States.

The summary was based in part on interviews with elite gymnasts Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney, two members of the 2012 gold-medal team known as the “The Fierce Five,” and national team member Maggie Nichols. Several other Olympic gold medalists have also accused Nassar of molesting them, including 2012 team members Jordyn Wieber and Gabby Douglas, and 2016 gold medalist Simone Biles.

A spokesman for the Olympic Committee said the security chief’s email — first reported by the Wall Street Journal — was never circulated among members of the organization. According to the NBC report, USOC spokesman Mark Jones said that even if the organization had known Nassar was a target in the investigation, it would have made little difference in how USOC responded because “that name didn't mean anything to us.”

Susanne Lyons, the independent director of the USOC who is leading the board’s special committee, said in the statement that the outside investigators “will have full discretion to conduct the investigation and make findings in whatever way Ms. McPhee and Mr. Dowden decide is appropriate,” said Susanne Lyons, the independent director of the USOC who is leading the board’s special committee.”

A written report at the end of the investigation will be released in its entirety to the public, Lyons said. She did not provide a timeline, saying the probe “will take as long as necessary to get to the truth.”

Both the USOC and USA Gymnastics — which have been on de facto trial during the proceedings against Nassar in Michigan — have pledged their full support in the investigation. The Olympic Committee said it will implement the recommendations of the investigators. USA Gymnastics' entire board has resigned in the wake of the scandal.

Whitney Ping, an athlete representative on the USOC board, said in the statement that action is necessary to “ensure that a tragedy of this magnitude can never happen again.”

Watch 3 Victims’ Dad Lunge At Larry Nassar

The scandal blew open in August 2016 with an Indianapolis Star investigative project that said USA Gymnastics routinely looked the other way when team officials molested them. The first installment of the project was published on the eve of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Rachael Denhollander, the first gymnast to publicly accuse Nassar, said the report gave her the courage to speak out, starting a domino effect that eventually brought more than 150 girls and women into Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina’s courtroom in Michigan in late January. Denhollander filed a police report in 2016 with Michigan State University, where Nassar was a sports doctor.

Denhollander, who was among those testifying against Nassar in the sentencing hearing in Ingham County, told the IndyStar that Nassar began molesting her when she visited him for treatment of lower back pain at 15 and that he became more abusive over five treatments, penetrating her anus and vagina with his fingers and thumb and unhooking her bra and massaging her breasts.

“I was terrified,” Denhollander told the newspaper. “I was ashamed. I was very embarrassed. And I was very confused, trying to reconcile what was happening with the person he was supposed to be. He’s this famous doctor. He’s trusted by my friends. He’s trusted by these other gymnasts. How could he reach this position in the medical profession, how could he reach this kind of prominence and stature if this is who he is.”

Anyone wit information for the USOC investigation is encouraged to contact McPhee and Dowden at USOCinvestigation@ropesgray.com, (833) 458-8316 (toll-free), or (617) 235-4070.

Photo of Larry Nassar by Scott Olson/Getty Images News/Getty Images