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Department of Justice won't charge former FBI agents involved in Nassar investigation

May 26, 2022
<p>Teal flags are displayed along Grand River Avenue on April 3, 2019.</p>

Teal flags are displayed along Grand River Avenue on April 3, 2019.

Photo by Sylvia Jarrus | The State News

The Department of Justice announced in a statement that it will not bring federal criminal charges to two former FBI agents involved in the ex-MSU doctor Larry Nassar investigation.

“This decision comes after multiple reviews and analyses of evidence gathered in the investigation of the former agents, and reflects the recommendation of experienced prosecutors,” the statement said.

At a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting in September, four Sister Survivors testified against the FBI in response to the Office of Inspector General's report. The report found that the FBI field branch of Indianapolis “failed to respond to the Nassar allegations with the utmost seriousness and urgency that they deserved and required, made numerous and fundamental errors when they did respond to them, and violated multiple FBI policies.”

The Department of Justice was reconsidering its decision not to prosecute agents in October 2021. However, its announcement today said it will adhere to its prior decision.

“While the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General has outlined serious concerns about the former agents’ conduct during the Nassar investigation, and also described how evidence shows that during interviews in the years after the events in question both former agents appear to have provided inaccurate or incomplete information to investigators, the Principles of Federal Prosecution require more to bring a federal criminal case,” the statement said.

Last month, 13 survivors filed their own claims against the FBI. One of the survivors, Grace French, hopes the FBI is held accountable for its failure to investigate Nassar's sexual abuse allegations.

“The FBI could’ve helped to avoid this trauma,” French said in an April press conference. “It disgusts me and it hurts me. This incredible systemic breakdown shows that there is needed change in the way that the FBI responds to cases of abuse. We need to continue to pursue accountability for the institutions that allowed athletes and children to continue to see Nassar long after reports were made.”

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