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Larry Nassar is a former American physician who was convicted of a series of child sexual abuse-related crimes committed from 1996 to 2014. During this period, Nassar was working as the certified doctor for the United States women's national gymnastics team.
He reportedly used his position as the team physician to assault hundreds of young women athletes. Numerous underage girls complained that Nassar abused them under the guise of providing medical treatment. It was in 2016 when Nassar was arrested and convicted of his crimes.
This became one of the biggest sexual scandals in the history of sports. The complete investigation behind the crimes of Larry Nassar is documented in episode 3 of American Mobster: Abuse of Power season 1. The episode titled Bodies of Evidence is set to be released on May 18, 2025, on Investigation Discovery.
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What is the story of Larry Nassar?
Born as Lawrence Gerard Nassar, he began his career as a student athletic trainer at the North Farmington High School in 1978, per USA Today. Larry Nassar studied kinesiology at the University of Michigan, and during this time, he started practicing for the University's football team.
After completing his undergraduate degree, Nassar went on to complete his graduation from the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine as a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine.
According to the same media outlet, it was in 1986 when Larry Nassar joined the USA Gymnastics national team, working in the position of athletic trainer. Two years later, he went on to work as the gymnastics club trainer at Twistars, with John Geddert as a coworker.
It was in 1996 when Larry Nassar joined Holt High School as the team doctor. Additionally, he served the position of the national medical coordinator in USA Gymnastics until 2014.
The crimes of Larry Nassar
While working at Michigan State University in 1997, some of his co-workers complained about his strange behavior, per PBS News. Some female athletes complained to the USA Gymnastics about facing sexual abuse in 1994, but no action was taken.
Indianapolis Star reported that on June 17, 2015, former American gymnast Maggie Nicholas and her coach, Sarah Jantzi, filed a report to the authorities from USA Gymnastics about Larry Nassar's "sexually inappropriate treatment." The complaint was taken into consideration and Nassar was excluded from the USA Gymnastics organisation.
As per the same media outlet, it was on September 20, 2016, when the former gymnast and attorney Rachael Denhollander, along with another athlete, filed a sexual molestation complaint against the American Mobster: Abuse of Power subject.
CBS News reported that four days after the accusations, Larry Nassar was fired from Michigan State University on September 20, 2016. During a February 2017 conversation with CBS News correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook on 60 Minutes, three American former gymnasts, namely Jessica Howard, Jeanette Antolin, and Jamie Dantzscher, revealed that they were abused by Larry Nassar.
The athletics further added that while running national training camps in Huntsville, Texas, gymnastics coaches, including Béla Károlyi, Karolyi Ranch, and Márta Károlyi, created an emotionally abusive environment, and provided Nassar with opportunities to continue abusing young women.
CNN reported that Rachael Denhollander, who was one of the first women to file a complaint against Nassar, said that back in 2000, she was abused by him during the doctor visits. As per Time magazine, in October 2017, former Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman started a #MeToo trend on X (formerly Twitter), revealing her personal molestation experience with Larry Nassar.
As reported by ESPN, it was in January 2018 when former gymnast Maggie Nichols spoke about being abused by Larry Nassar at a young age. As per The Daily Paragraph, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles also testified about her sexual abuse experience with Nassar.
In the same month, Jordyn Wieber also provided a statement, sharing a similar experience with Nassar during her time at USA Gymnastics, per CNN.
The legal lawsuit on the FBI's negligence in handling Larry Nassar's case
According to CNN, American professional gymnasts, including Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and Maggie Nichols, provided their testimony in the jury, claiming that the FBI investigation into Nassar's case had many loopholes and misinformation.
In April 2022, 13 victims subjected to Larry's abuse filed a legal lawsuit against the FBI for their negligence in handling their investigation, per The New York Times. The lawsuit was settled in 2024, with a sum of $ 138.7 million.
The investigation into Larry Nassar's case
Larry was charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse from the time between 1998 to 2005, on November 22, 2016. USA Today reported that the charges included 7 first-degree sexual abuse in Eaton County and Ingham County. As per MLive, he received bail the same day, paying a sum of $1 million.
According to USA Today, Nassar was arrested by the FBI after receiving 37,000 images of child p*rnography, and a video of sexual activity with minor age girls. As stated on the website of the United States Attorney's Office, Larry Nassar pleaded guilty to his charges of committing child po*nography from 2004 to 2016 on July 11, 2017.
As reported by the BBC, it was on December 7, 2017, when Nassar was sentenced to 60 years of federal imprisonment for his charges. After pleading guilty to 7 counts of sexual abuse in Ingham County, he received an additional sentence of 40 to 175 years of imprisonment from the Michigan Department of Corrections on January 24, 2018.
Nassar received an additional 40 to 175 years imprisonment for the 3 counts of sexual abuse in Eaton County. As per USA Today, Larry Nassar is currently incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Lewisburg. He won't be eligible for parole until January 30, 2068. After serving his prison time, he will be shifted to serve the rest of his sentence.
Check out our other articles to learn more details about other serial true crimes.
