Appointed special prosecutor William Forsyth, who is in charge of Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette's investigation into MSU, is "under my direction," Schuette wrote in a letter obtained by the Detroit Free Press.
The Jan. 27 letter states Forsyth will serve as a "representative" of Schuette, and serve under his "direction" and at his "pleasure," according to the Free Press.
In public statements and conferences, Schuette called Forsyth an "independent special prosecutor." In Forsyth's employment contract, also obtained by the Free Press, he is named a "special assistant attorney general."
"I would not have taken the job of investigating what went wrong at Michigan State University if I didn’t have the independence to the job as I saw fit," according to a statement from Forsyth. "The Attorney General has granted me complete independence and has given me the full weight of the Department of Attorney General to assist in my investigation.”
Schuette previously stated, "No individual and no department at Michigan State University is off limits" in the investigation. However, the contract limits Forsyth's investigation to Larry Nassar's abuse, seemingly ruling out any scrutiny of unrelated sexual assault reporting issues such as those detailed in ESPN's Outside the Lines report.
Additionally, the contract states any report must be reviewed and approved by a contract manager in Schuette's office before being released.
The MSU Board of Trustees called for the investigation by the Michigan Office of the Attorney General on Jan. 19.
Editor's note — This article was updated at 6:00 p.m. to include a statement from Forsyth, received via email from the Attorney General's office.
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