MSU Fires Doctor Accused in Olympic Gymnast Sex Abuse Scandal [UPDATED]

The Michigan State University doctor accused of sexually abusing two former Olympic gymnasts has been fired, officials at the university confirmed Tuesday.

Dr. Larry G. Nassar, who served as USA Gymnastics’ team physician during four Olympic Games, was named in a complaint filed with MSU police and in a civil lawsuit filed in California. Both gymnasts alleged that Nassar had fondled and groped them during routine examinations.

Jason Cody, a spokesman for MSU, said Tuesday that the university last week began the process to fire Nassar from his job as an associate professor in MSU's College of Osteopathic Medicine after he was relieved of his clinical duties on Aug. 30.

"Over the past week, the university received additional information that raised serious concerns about Nassar’s compliance with certain employment requirements," Cody told the Lansing State Journal.

• Read More: Former Olympic Gymnasts Name MSU Doctor in Sex Abuse Complaints

Cody said that after allegations raised by Rachael Denhollander, who allowed her name to be used, began to surface, the university received “multiple” new allegations of sexual assault by Nassar.

In 2014, Nassar was cleared in a misconduct complaint by a female graduate of MSU who alleged she had been sexually abused during a medical procedure. The university didn’t find a violation of its policies but referred police reports to former Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III, whose office declined to file charges, Cody said. Dunnings left office in disgrace after allegations that he paid for sex hundreds of times.

Dunnings’ replacement, Gretchen Whitmer, told the Lansing State Journal that a “handful” of people have reached out to her office after published accounts of the allegations against Nassar. She also said the cases that Dunnings’ administration failed to pursue could get a second look but declined to speculate on whether the decisions not to prosecute those case were proper.

Cody said Tuesday that performance requirements put in place after the 2014 investigation “were not consistently met.” Also, he said, “the university learned Nassar was not forthcoming when questioned about other previous allegations during the initial 2014 investigation.”

The investigation into allegations against Nassar and others, first reported by the Indianapolis Star, broke on the eve of the 2016 Rio Olympics. According to that report, USA Gymnastics officials brushed off at least 14 reports of sexual abuse by team officials, some involving gymnasts as young as 7.

Photo by Corey Seeman via Flickr Commons