Larry Nassar, the former doctor for the U.S. Gymnastics Team, has been stabbed multiple times in a Florida prison.
Nassar, 59, was sentenced to 175 years in prison for sexually assaulting girls and young women — up to 330 of them — while working out of his clinic at Michigan State University.
Nassar also pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.
Prison officials report that Nassar was stabbed twice in the neck, twice in the back, and six times in the chest. The attack left him with a collapsed lung.
“Responding staff immediately initiated life-saving measure,” a staff member for the Federal Bureau of Prisons told BBC News, adding that Nassar was taken to the hospital “for further treatment and evaluation.”
Many of Nassar’s victims, including Olympic gold medal winners McKayla Maroney, Simone Biles, and Aly Raisman, are suing the FBI for their alleged botched investigation. The claimants allege the FBI ignored allegations and made mistakes that allowed Nassar to continue assaulting young women for over a year after the 2015 investigation began. The FBI was also accused of undertaking various cover-ups during their investigation.
According to an Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report, the Indianapolis FBI office, where the first allegations against Nassar were lodged, claimed it sent information regarding Nassar to the Detroit office — but it failed to do so.
After eight months of FBI inaction, officials from USA Gymnastics next met with FBI agents in the Los Angeles office. Nassar continued to assault girls the entire time. He kept it up for several more months.
FACT-O-RAMA! Michigan State University Police searched Nassar’s home and found over 37,000 child pornography images.
The OIG report found that a Wall Street Journal reporter contacted the FBI. The reporter then deduced, “Either USA Gymnastics is lying, and didn’t report the Nassar complaints to the FBI immediately, or the FBI didn’t contact the complainants/victims for at least a year, which seems like a very long time for such serious accusations.”
The FBI admitted their actions were “inexcusable and a discredit” to the agency, though it isn’t clear if anyone was fired.
USA Gymnastics agreed to pay the victims a total of $380 million. Michigan State University, which was accused of allowing the abuse to take place, agreed to pay $500 million to the victims.
Rachael Denhollander, the first victim to accuse Nassar of assault, tweeted several responses to the stabbing attack on Nassar, including:
Justice is conformity to what is right. It should be pursued and fought for.
Forgiveness is releasing personal vengeance and desiring for the offender to find true repentance and peace.
I am holding both especially today. https://t.co/5LREwJZ6O6
— Rachael Denhollander (@R_Denhollander) July 10, 2023
A 2021 Associated Press investigation revealed the federal prison system was suffering from a staff shortage of 6,000 guards, or roughly 1/3 of the entire force. Prisons were resorting to using nurses, cooks, and teachers for guard duty.
Nassar was listed in stable condition and is expected to survive his injuries.
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