Few episodes in the history of the FBI are as shameful and gut-wrenching as the agency’s failure to investigate pedophile gymnastics “doctor” Larry Nassar.
On Tuesday, the Department of Justice agreed to pay Nassar’s victims a settlement of $138.7 million as restitution for the FBI’s failure to investigate the credible allegations that Nassar was using his position within USA Gymnastics to sexually abuse hundreds of young girls.
Nassar was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison in 2018 for his crimes and will no doubt spend the rest of his life behind bars. His victims include several high-profile gymnasts who have represented the United States at the Olympics, including McKayla Maroney, Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross, and Gabby Douglas.
But Nassar escaped justice for years, in part because the FBI refused to investigate allegations against him. An inspector general report in 2021 blasted the agency’s Indianapolis field office for blatantly ignoring the complaints made against Nassar.
In a statement announcing the settlement, acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said, “These allegations should have been taken seriously from the outset. While these settlements won’t undo the harm Nassar inflicted, our hope is that they will help give the victims of his crimes some of the critical support they need to continue healing.”
While conservatives have rightfully decried the FBI’s targeting of Catholics and parents protesting at school board meetings, the failures of the agency in the Nassar case highlight just how deep the problems with the agency go.
An adequate and prompt response to allegations of rape and child molestation are the absolute bare minimum expectations for a law enforcement agency such as the FBI. This failure, more than any other, is proof enough that the FBI has a cultural rot that permeates all the way to the rank-and-file agents who are supposed to be protecting the public. Just listen to what Alexis Hazen, who was abused by Nassar all through her teenage years, said after the settlement was announced.
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“I’m relieved but disappointed that no one person is being held accountable for failing to report the abuse and for sweeping it under the rug,” she told the New York Times. “In a way, this helps me be able to move past this, but it’s always in the back of my mind that, wow, if the FBI didn’t protect me, could something like this happen to my children? And that makes me really, really mad. I definitely have no trust in that institution anymore.”
If the FBI cannot be trusted to protect teenage girls from a pedophile, who can it be trusted to protect? No amount of money can ever restore that trust. And for an agency that is still abusing its power, who knows how many more sexual predators are being allowed to prey on children with impunity?
