Report of the Independent Investigation

Report of the Independent Investigation The Constellation of Factors Underlying Larry Nassar’s Abuse of Athletes Joan McPhee | James P. Dowden December 10, 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................1 INVESTIGATIVE INDEPENDENCE, SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY .................................12 A. Independence .........................................................................................................13 B. Scope ......................................................................................................................14 C. Methodology ..........................................................................................................14 1. Witness Interviews .....................................................................................16 2. Document Review ......................................................................................17 I. WHAT HAPPENED ..........................................................................................................19 A. Nassar’s Abuse.......................................................................................................20 B. Efforts to Bring Nassar to Justice ..........................................................................24 C. Legal Proceedings ..................................................................................................30 1. Criminal Proceedings .................................................................................30 2. Other Proceedings ......................................................................................31 II. NASSAR’S SYSTEM OF ABUSE ...................................................................................33 A. Nassar’s Career: Building a Facade and Grooming Athletes ................................34 B. Nassar’s Methods for Normalizing the Abuse .......................................................39 III. WHO KNEW WHAT WHEN AND WHAT WAS AND WAS NOT DONE IN RESPONSE........................................................................................................................44 A. Early Reporting of Nassar’s Abuse and Notice of Other Conduct ........................47 1. Reports to Geddert and Klages ..................................................................48 2. Reports to Coaches, Trainers and Other Adults over a Span of Decades ......................................................................................................50 3. Meridian Township Police Investigation ...................................................52 4. MSU Title IX and Police Investigation .....................................................52 5. Nassar’s Longtime Colleagues ..................................................................55 6. Notice of Other Conduct by Nassar ...........................................................56 B. Reporting to USA Gymnastics ...............................................................................58 1. Fran Sepler’s Investigation ........................................................................62 C. Reporting to the United States Olympic Committee .............................................67 D. Referral to the Federal Bureau of Investigation .....................................................77 E. Communications with Nassar ................................................................................82 F. Nassar’s Quiet Retirement .....................................................................................91 i G. Period of Inaction Following Reporting to USAG, the USOC and the FBI ..........96 1. FBI Investigation .......................................................................................96 2. Inaction by USAG....................................................................................100 3. Inaction by the USOC ..............................................................................101 H. Interactions Between USAG and the FBI ............................................................101 I. Further Actions by USAG ...................................................................................104 1. Confidential Settlement Agreement with Survivor of Nassar’s Abuse .......................................................................................................104 2. Removal of Documents from the Karolyi Ranch ....................................105 IV. CONTRIBUTING CULTURAL CONDITIONS ............................................................110 A. Embedded Features of the Sport ..........................................................................111 B. The Unique Cultural Influence of the Karolyis and the Karolyi Ranch ..............127 1. The Karolyis’ Approach to Training ........................................................128 2. Establishing a Semi-Centralized Training System in the United States ........................................................................................................133 C. Cultural Priorities of Olympic Organizations ......................................................136 V. OLYMPIC GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE AND THE DISCONNECT BETWEEN ADOPTED POLICIES AND EFFECTIVE ACTION ................................139 A. United States Olympic Committee ......................................................................139 1. The Ted Stevens Act Endowed the USOC with Broad Powers and General Purposes .....................................................................................140 2. The USOC’s Evolution Toward a More Traditional Corporate Structure Corresponded with an Increased Focus on Generating Revenue and Athlete Success and a Diminishing Voice for Athletes in Governance ..........................................................................................142 3. The USOC Adopted a Service-Oriented Governing Approach Toward the NGBs ....................................................................................149 4. The Development of SafeSport Reflected the USOC’s Service- Oriented Approach ...................................................................................156 5. Concerns about the Complaint Process Across Olympic Sports .............163 B. United States of America Gymnastics .................................................................167 1. USAG Conducted Limited Oversight of Nassar ......................................168 2. USAG Failed to Exert Its Authority over Its Membership and Adopted Practices that Served as an Impediment to Addressing Credible Allegations of Abuse, While Maintaining a Public Reputation as a Leader in Protecting Athletes .........................................173 ii a. USAG’s Efforts to Protect Gymnasts ............................................... 175 b. USAG’s Reputation as a Leader in Protecting Athletes ................... 178 c. Disconnect Between USAG’s Reputation and Effective Action ...... 179 3. USAG’s Processing of Complaints Highlights Its Failure to Implement Athlete-Focused Policies and Practices .................................185 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................199 APPENDIX ..................................................................................................................................234 Exhibit A Exhibit B iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Across two courtrooms, in early 2018, nearly 200 girls and women stood up to Larry Nassar. Facing him directly, and speaking to the world, with courage, eloquence and powerful emotion, they documented the abuse he had perpetrated, the physical and emotional suffering they had endured, and the force they had become. With one unflinching account after the next, they brought forth the full scope, depth and magnitude of the tragedy that had unfolded, over almost three decades, across America and around the globe, including in the heart of elite gymnastics, at the pinnacle of Olympic magnificence. Whether measured by the number of survivors, the tally of abusive acts, the range of adults and institutions that failed to intervene, or the span of years over which Nassar was able to perpetrate his crimes, the chronicle of his serial child sexual abuse is devastating. In all, Nassar committed thousands of sexual assaults between the early 1990s and the summer of 2016. He abused some survivors one time, while abusing others hundreds of times over a period of many years. Nassar carefully constructed a comprehensive system of abuse. He cultivated a reputation and image as a highly-skilled, well-meaning and caring doctor, and he committed almost all of his crimes under the guise of performing medical treatments. He groomed the survivors, their families and numerous other adults into believing that he was not only a world- renowned doctor, but also an advocate for the athletes, a physician who cared deeply about his patients’ physical well-being and mental and emotional health. With the cover he crafted, he became, in the words of one survivor, a “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” who cloaked himself in the “guise of a loving friend and medical professional.” In the late summer and early fall of 2016, in the wake of the Indianapolis Star’s reporting on sexual abuse in gymnastics, first one survivor of Nassar’s abuse came forward, and then another and another. With his survivors rising up en masse and law enforcement finally closing in, Nassar 1 took his work laptop to a computer service store and

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