Michigan AG closes probe of MSU’s Larry Nassar scandal

• An investigation into MSU’s handling of the Larry Nassar scandal is closed, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Wednesday 
• 6,000 previously unreleased documents did not contain new information pertinent to the investigation, AG review found
• Documents will be made public, but Nessel says MSU should have released them sooner

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Wednesday her office is closing an investigation into Michigan State University’s handling of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal, calling it a disappointing end to a years-long search for answers. 

Nassar, a former sports medicine doctor who worked at MSU and treated Olympic gymnasts, was sentenced in late 2017 and early 2018 by three state and federal courts to what amounts to a lifetime in prison for sexually assaulting patients under the guise of medical treatment. He’s currently serving a 60-year federal prison sentence for child pornography possession.

The attorney general’s office first began investigating what MSU officials knew about Nassar and the university’s handling of the scandal in 2018 under then-Attorney General Bill Schuette. The investigation sputtered to a halt in subsequent years and closed in 2021 after school officials resisted releasing thousands of documents, citing attorney-client privilege.

Related:

• U.S. reaches $138.7 million settlement with Nassar victims
• Michigan State University to release Nassar documents after years of delay
• Michigan elections FAQ: Are Elissa Slotkin, Larry Nassar attack ads true?

After years of pressure from state investigators and victims of Nassar’s abuse, the university’s Board of Trustees changed course in December 2023, unanimously voting to authorize their legal counsel to review and release the requested documents. 

In all, 6,014 new documents were provided to the Attorney General’s office earlier this year. Those documents didn’t offer new insight, Nessel told reporters, adding that she believed most of the material didn’t rise to the level of attorney-client privilege as officials had claimed.

“There was no justification, no justifiable reason, to withhold those documents for any period of time, let alone an extended period,” Nessel said. 

MSU’s decision to withhold the documents for so long unnecessarily denied survivors the closure “that they were entitled to many years ago,” she continued. 

In a statement, MSU spokesperson Emily Gerkin Guerrant said the university “fully complied” with the attorney general’s office and maintained that the initial interpretation of attorney-client privilege on the documents in question was appropriate.

"We respect the thorough efforts made by the attorney general’s office in its extensive investigation, and we recognize the impact this has had on survivors, their families, and the MSU community,” Guerrant said. “We are working to become a more accountable organization each day, guided by an unwavering commitment to providing a safe campus and equitable environment for all."

The documents will be posted publicly in the coming months and can be obtained via public records requests in the meantime, Nessel’s office said Wednesday.

Since Nassar’s sentencing, hundreds of women and girls who were abused by the disgraced doctor have sought accountability from law enforcement and the institutions that employed him, securing major settlements from MSU, USA Gymnastics and the Department of Justice.

Three former MSU officials were charged in the aftermath of the scandal: former President Lou Anna Simon, former MSU Gymnastics coach Kathie Klages and William Strampel, the former dean of the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine and Nassar’s former boss. 

The case against Simon was dismissed in 2020, and the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed Klages’ conviction of lying to police about not remembering being told of Nassar’s abuse by two gymnasts.