By Sarah N. Lynch and David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department’s internal watchdog on Wednesday is expected to release a long-awaited report examining why the FBI delayed pursuing a probe into sexual abuse allegations it received in 2015 against former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, a source told Reuters.
Reuters could not immediately learn what Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report will say but the office is set to brief Senators Jerry Moran and Richard Blumenthal on the report.
Moran and Blumenthal released a 2019 report that found numerous officials including the FBI “sat on evidence of his sexual misconduct for over a year—allowing for the additional sexual abuse of dozens of other girls.”
A separate U.S. House panel report also highlighted the length of time it took and how the FBI conducted its Nassar investigation.
Nassar was sentenced in federal court in 2017 to 60 years in prison on charges of possessing child sex abuse material.
The following year, he was also sentenced up to 175 years and up to 125 years, respectively, in two separate Michigan courts for molesting young female gymnasts under his care including Olympic gold medalists Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney.
The inspector general’s investigation was launched in 2018 amid concerns that the FBI dragged its feet in opening a sexual abuse probe into Nassar despite receiving multiple complaints about him.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and David ShepardsonEditing by Marguerita Choy)
