August 1, 2024 • 36 mins
Host Jay Harris serves up a chilling account of betrayal in the high-stakes world of competitive gymnastics. Discover how Larry Nassar, a once-respected medical professional, abused his position to commit heinous acts against the very athletes he was supposed to protect, shaking the foundations of American gymnastics and sparking a reckoning on institutional failure.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome back to playing dirty sports scandals. I'm Jay Harris.
You're a barista extraordinaire, serving up the juiciest scandals to
ever rock the sports world. As a veteran of sports journalism,
from the bright lights of ESPN to my in depth
discussions on Outside the Lines, I've had a taste of
the very best and the very worst of what sports
(00:28):
has to offer. Today, we're going to start unraveling an
example of one of the worst sports stories to come
to light in recent years. We're stepping into a scandal
steeped in dirt, with incredibly high stakes and profound betrayals.
(00:52):
It's a revolting brew that will turn your stomach and
quite possibly shake any societally ingrained and fundamental belief you
have that medical professionals are inherently trustworthy. Because today, my
thirsty friend, I'm taking you behind the scenes of what
went down with Larry Nasser. Clear your palette while you
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can ah nothing quite like carrot apple and ginger juice
to brace the belly for a salacious sports scandal. We're
as ready as we can be, so let's meet Larry.
Larry Nasser's early life was seemingly pretty impressive. Born in safe,
affluent Farmington Hills, Michigan, to Lebanese parents on August sixteenth,
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nineteen sixty three, it was apparent by the young age
of fifteen that Larry was destined to work with gymnasts.
His older brother, Mike, who was an athletic director at
North Farmington High School, encouraged Larry to work beside him,
gaining hands on experience supporting gymnast's health and performance goals.
Larry was so committed to the North Farmington High School
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gymnastics team that he earned a varsity letter in women's
artistic gymnastics in nineteen eighty one. Larry doubled down on
his commitment to sports medicine during his undergraduate years at
the University of Michigan, where he graduated in nineteen eighty
five with a degree in kinesiology, which is the study
of human body movement, And by nineteen eighty six, less
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than a year after his graduation and at just twenty
three years old, Larry Nasser joined the USA Gymnastics national
team medical staff as an athletic trainer. I told you
in his youth, Larry certainly came across as a driven,
career minded guy headed for a lifetime of achievement. By
nineteen eighty eight, his dedication to the USA Gymnastics national
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team had caught the attention of coaches John and Catherine Gedert,
who were highly established in the world of gymnastics as
the founders of Geert's Twist Stars USA Gymnastics Club in Diamondale, Michigan.
John and Catherine were well known for delivering winning results
from the gymnast day coached, and their opinions carried real
weight in the gymnastics community. Their approval of Larry Nasser
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propelled him into more prominent roles, accelerating his already rapid
rise as a health professional. But to really reach his
full career potential, Larry knew that he needed to advance
his academic qualifications. He wanted to be more than a trainer.
He wanted to be a doctor, so he went back
to school to earn his graduate degree from Michigan State University.
(03:26):
By nineteen ninety three, Larry Nasser had graduated as a
Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from MSU. He then completed his
residency training at Saint Lawrence Hospital, which is considered one
of the top medical institutions in Lansing, Michigan, before completing
a fellowship in sports medicine. By nineteen ninety seven, thanks
to the connections he'd already made with prominent coaches John
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and Catherine Gedett, Larry Nasser landed the prestigious position of
national medical Coordinator for USA Gymnastics in nineteen ninety six,
even before he'd officially completed it at his fellowship, Larry
had cruised through school and was a big deal doctor
by age thirty four, pulling down a one hundred thousand
dollars per year salary which would be equivalent to more
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than like two hundred thousand and twenty twenty four from
his assistant professor job at Michigan State University's College of
Human Medicine alone. He'd also met and married a fellow
medical professional from MSU, Stephanie. But even with his burgeoning
career and new marriage, Larry still managed to find plenty
of time to volunteer, seeming to ooze passion for everything
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and anything related to sports medicine. What a guy right.
In fact, according to investigative journalist Daniel Murphy, Larry Nasser's
early success was significantly boosted by his willingness to go
above and beyond volunteering his time and offering to pay
his own way to national gymnastics events. There was no
doctor or athletic trainer who was as passionate about the
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sport as Nasa was, probably in the world, Daniel Murphy wrote.
But just because Larry Nassa was passionate about gymnastics didn't
mean that athlete's well being was always prioritized under his care. Rather,
Larry served the team's winning objectives, and his unique approach
to sports medicine often involved providing coaches with workarounds to
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keep athletes active and training while managing their injuries. This
was a critical advantage in a fields where careers are
notoriously short and demanding. But was it in the best
health interests of the gymnasts themselves. Arguably not. Doctors take
a hippocratic oath to do no harm. Perhaps Larry's willingness
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to keep gymnasts driving their overworked bodies to big metal
wins was an early indication that he didn't take his
hippocratic oath seriously enough. Even so, Larry Nasser had cultivated
the persona of a devoted and skilled medical professional. He'd
fast become a trusted figure in American gymnastics, bearing responsibility
for the care of the nation's top young athletes, most
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of whom were young girls. And this was a problem
because beneath his facade of professional excellence and unrivaled specialist
medical expertise, Larry Nasser couldn't be trusted around young girls.
You see, Larry Nasser, for all his accolades and prestigious
jobs and well connected friends, was a predator. Now, Larry
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had always been a predator, even as he was in
the early days of building up a thriving career, shaking hands,
traveling and making friends in high places. There was a
dark side to his personality aside that Kyle Stephens saw
when she was just six years old. Kyle Stevens grew
up in Lansing, Michigan, and her parents were close friends
with Larry Nasser and his wife, Stephanie. According to an
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NPR interview with Kyle, almost every Sunday in the late
nineteen nineties, Stephanie Nasser and Kyle's mom would make dinner
together for the two families, and while they were doing that,
Kyle and her older brother would hang out in the
Naser's basement under the eyes of being helpful to the
other adults, Larry would offer to go downstairs and play
hide and seek with Kyle and her brother. Once the
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children were separated in different hiding places, Larry would find
Kyle and abuse her while her brother was still crouched
in a closet or curled up in a cabinet, believing
that an actual game of hide and seek was still on.
Other times, Larry would sit down next to Kyle on
the couch while the kids were watching TV in the
basement and put a blanket over just the two of them. Then,
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Kyle shared years later, he would just act like he's
watching TV with us and then abuse me under the
blanket with my brother sitting next to us. Under the blanket,
Larry would rub Kyle's feet against his penis and slip
his fingers inside her vagina. When she was twelve years old,
after six years of sexual abuse, Kyle Stevens finally worked
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up the courage to tell her parents about what had
been happening, about what was still happening. They didn't believe her.
Years later, Kyle Stephens's father would commit suicide, and Kyle
believes that his dismissal of her sexual abuse claim was
a major factor in that tragic outcome, and the tragic
outcomes inflicted upon others by Larry Nasser were just getting started.
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In a short amount of time, there would be piles
of shattered lives in his wake. The first major complaints
by gymnasts about Larry Nasser's misconduct traced back to the
late nineteen nineties and were consistently mishandled by both Michigan
State University and the USA Gymnastics Organization. In nineteen ninety seven,
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teenage gymnast Larissa Boyce and one of her teammates became
the first women to speak up about their concerns. They
reported to MSU coach Kathy Klegus that they believed Larry
Naster's sports medicine treatments were inappropriate. According to em Live,
Larissa Boyce told coach Klegus that she and her teammate
had been vaginally penetrated. Yet, instead of reporting their incredibly
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serious allegations to university authority or law enforcement, coach Kleagus
instead spoke to Larry Nasser directly about what the young
women had shared with her. Of course, Larry squashed the complaint.
Larissa Boyce and her teammate were compelled to apologize to
him for the misunderstanding, and then Larissa went on to
have more than one hundred treatments with him as part
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of her gymnastics curriculum at MSU. To this day, Larissa
Boyce says she experiences migraines, panic attacks, and suicidal thoughts
because of the assaults she endured at the hands of
Larry Nasser. And Larissa Boyce's experience with Larry Nasser as
a gymnast is sadly not an isolated one. Also, in
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nineteen ninety seven, a parent complained to Larry's crony, Twist
Star's owner, John Geddert, about the questionable medical treatments Larry
had provided to her daughter in a back room at
the gymnastics facility. Not only did John Geeddert fail to
investigate this complaint and raise the alarm with the USA
Gymnastics organization, but he continued to recommend Larry Nasser as
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a physician and provided him with a room at the
Twist Stars facility for treatment purposes. Larry Nasser was surely
emboldened here he was being called out by his young
female victims, but because he was an adult male in
a respected position, no one believed their complaints. Under the
guise of performing medical treatments, Larry Nasser had seemingly been
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given free reign to conduct sexual assault. The lack of
appropriate response from Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics and Twist
Stars allowed Larry's predatory behavior to continue unchecked. These organizations
that employed Larry had sent a terrible message to gymnasts
that speaking out got you nowhere. Through their inaction, USA
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Gymnastics in Michigan State University had established environments where the
well being of athletes was overshadowed by competitive success. Gymnastics
can be a ruthless sport, and when you couple that
level of pressure with a hierarchical structure that placed immense
value on authority figures like Larry Nasser, young athletes felt
powerless to challenge or question his methods. The fear of retaliation,
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such as losing their place on the team or damaging
their career prospects kept Larry's victims silent. There is no
other sport in which this could have happened, but gymnastics,
said Joan Ryan, who wrote the nineteen ninety five book
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes about the physical and psychological
toll gymnastics takes on girls and young women. These girls
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are groomed from an incredibly young age to deny their
own experience. Your knee hurts, you're being lazy, you're hungry. No,
you're fat and greedy. They are trained to doubt their
own feelings, and that's why this sexual abuse could happen
to over one hundred and fifty of them. Gymnasts who
worked with Larry Nasser often report how initially impressed they
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were by his medical expertise and how they implicitly trusted
him as an ally in their sporting careers. He's the
type of person who knows how to make you want
to trust him, former gymnast Rachel Dentolander told The Indianapolis
Star in September twenty sixteen. Alexis Moore, who was just
nine years old when she had the misfortune of crossing
paths with Larry Nasser, supported Rachel Dnilander's assessment of Larry's personality.
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For years, mister Nasser convinced me that he was the
only person who could help me recover from multiple serious injuries.
To me, he was like a knight in shining armor.
Alexis explained, But Rachel's, Alexis's, and every other gymnast's early
trust was almost always exploited by Larry in the most
egregious ways. For instance, there was Jessica Howard, a national
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champion in rhythmic gymnastics. Rhythmic gymnastics differs from the better
known artistic gymnastics. Only women compete in rhythmic gymnastics at
the international level, and the sport exclusively takes place on
the floor, with the athletes using dance moves and tools
like ribbons and hoops. Rhythmic gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous,
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and coordinated. A national champion like Jessica Howard would have
depended heavily on her assigned doctor of sports medicine to
keep her competition ready. But just as many other gymnasts
came to realize, Jessica Howard could not depend on Larry Nasser.
I remember thinking something was off when he was treating me,
but I didn't feel like I was able to say
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anything because he was this very high profile doctor, Jessica
told CBS News Chief medical correspondent Jonathan Lepuuk. Jessica rationalized
that his gloveless intervaginal massages to relieve back in hip
pain must somehow make sense, must somehow be acceptable. After all,
how could a professional so respected by his peers and
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institutions be capable of systematic sexual abuse. Surely, if doctor
Larry Nasser was abusing athletes, the USA Gymnastics Organization would
have shut him down long ago. Right wrong. At the
USA Gymnastics Organization, athletes were instead frequently reminded of the
privilege of their positions, which implicitly discouraged any complaints that
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could disrupt their training or tarnish the sport's image, And
Michigan State University mirrored this toxic party line, squashing the
complaints which did arise against renowned employee doctor Larry Nasser
to protect their institution's reputation at all costs. So the
predator continued to pray. He victimized young female gymnasts with
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his criminal vaginal treatments through his involvement with the Olympic teams,
including the two thousand and eight Games in Beijing, China,
and he continued to abuse gymnasts at Michigan State University,
with the university actually clearing him of any wrongdoing. After
a graduate named Amanda Thomas Show complained of sexual assault
during a medical examination in twenty fourteen. This was a
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particularly this shocking incident since it put him, as you,
in breach of the federal law known as Title nine,
which protects women from sex discrimination. The law was the
vanguard for establishing that college athletics had to offer equal
opportunity for young women just as they did for young men,
and in order to provide equal opportunity, colleges must provide
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equal safety for athletes of both genders. The protection of
female students from sexual harassment or assault is paramount to
Title nine compliance. So what happened exactly well, the person
in charge of Title nine adherent at Michigan State University
was a woman named Christine Moore. When Amanda Thomas Show
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filed her complaint against Larry Nasser, Christine Moore failed to
consider the previous complaints against him. She failed to properly
investigate the incident, instead relying exclusively on the testimony of
Larry's medical professional cronies, and she failed to use any
common sense. Who hears of a doctor consistently inserting his
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fingers into students vaginas without a glove and manipulating their
breasts and doesn't bat an eye. Christine Moore had an
opportunity to stop Larry Nasser, but she missed it, and
so his pool of young, sexually abused athletes continued to
grow and grow. Unbelievably, the mishandling of complaints against Larry
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Nasser was not confined to USA Gymnastics, Michigan State University,
and other gymnastics organizations. It even extended to federal law enforcement.
In July twenty fifteen, the FBI opened an investigation into
Larry Nasser after Stephen Penny, the then president and CEO
of USA Gymnastics, finally reported the allegations made by gymnast
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Maggie Nichols. Stephen Penny provided the FBI's Indianapolis Field office
with the names of three of Larry Nasser's victims who
were willing to be interviewed. It would later be discovered
that by this time Larry had abused approximately two hundred women.
You would think that the Federal Bureau of Investigation would
have been all over this opportunity to investigate, but they
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totally blew it. By September twenty fifteen, two months after
Steven Penny reported Maggie's allocations. The FBI had interviewed only
one of the witnesses and then failed to document the
interview in one of their official reports, known by their
Federal Document designation three O two. Then they didn't document
the case until February twenty seventeen. FBI rules require that
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three O twos be completed and submitted within days of
an interview event, yet they waited years to do so
with this case. It's unthinkable that such an oversight could
have happened, but it did, and so more time was
lost and more women were abused by the slippery sex
offender Larry Nassar. Female athletes could not count on any
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one to protect them. This is why the downfall of
Larry Nasser came, not because of the institutions that were
meant to protect athletes, or even because of law enforcements
sworn to protect the public, but from determined journalism and
the bravery of survivors who decided to speak out. The
beginning of the end for Larry Nasser began in earnest
with an explosive investigation by the Indianapolis Star in September
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twenty sixteen, more than a year After the FBI opened
its case and promptly buried it, journalists Marisa Kotkowski, Mark Elisia,
and Tim Evans of The Indianapolis Star published a groundbreaking
report that exposed systemic failures within USA Gymnastics in handling
sexual abuse complaints against coaches and personnel, including Larry Nasser.
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The investigation, which was part of a broader series titled
Out of Balance, meticulously detailed how complaints were routinely ignored
or mishandled, allowing abusers to continue their misconduct unchecked. Shelley Haymaker,
an Indiana attorney who represents abuse victims in child welfare cases,
told the journalists that USA gymnastics approach to the complaints
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against Larry Nasser made her sick. USAG may not have
been the hand that ultimately abused these innocent children, Shelley
Haymaker said, but it was definitely the arm. The in
depth reporting by The Indianapolis Star made an impact. Not
only had the paper spotlighted Larry Nasser's abuse, it had
also ignited a national conversation about the culture of silence
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pervasive in competitive gymnastics. Now that such horrifying revelations had
been made, public by The Indianapolis Star. Michigan State University,
where Larry Nasser had been a long standing faculty member,
was finally compelled to act. Within weeks of the article's publication.
On August thirtieth, twenty sixteen, MSU relieved Larry of his
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clinical and patient duties pending further investigation. It was the
publication of The Indianapolis Star's investigation that prompted someone else
to act as well. Rachel Dennelander, a former gymnast in
one of Larry Nasser's earliest known victims, decided to come
forward publicly. She was the first gymnast to publicly identify herself,
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and her bravery turned the tide. Rachel contacted the newspaper
after its initial report and shared her story, recounting how
Larry had sexually abused her under the guise of medical
treatment when she was only fifteen years old. Her disclosure
marked the beginning of a wave of testimonies from other
gymnasts who now felt empowered to share their experiences. Rachel's
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public stance and subsequent media appearances helped other survivors find
their voices. As more young women came forward, the scale
of Larry Nassar's crimes was impossible to ignore. The floodgates
had opened, and what started as a trickle of isolated,
behind closed door reports swelled into a torrent of collective
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outrage and demand for accountability, thanks to Rachel Dentilander and
The Indianapolis Star. On September twentieth, twenty sixteen, Michigan State University,
which it pressed pause on Larry Nasser's involvement with student
patients pending further investigation, at the end of August, formally
terminated his employment. I have confidence in the robustness of
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the reviews we have underway, in our unceasing commitment to
evaluate how we can be better tomorrow than we are
today than Michigan State University President lou Anna K. Simon
penned in a letter to students and alumni. The decision
to give Larry Nasser the boot was a long time coming,
and while his departure undoubtedly made the campus safer and
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better than it had previously been, MSU's reputation was certain
to take a hit. A better late than never attitude
towards the situation by the administration was just not acceptable.
Why in the world had it taken the university so
long to see the writing on the wall, to prioritize
student protection, and to remove a predator from campus. A
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torrent of uncomfortable questions were coming from Michigan State University, USA, Gymnastics,
Twist Stars, and the FBI. At the center of the
storm was, of course, Larry Nasser himself. It seemed that
after wreaking so much havoc and causing so much pain
to others, that he was finally due a come uppance.
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The cascade of legal repercussions for Larry Nasser's snowballed following
initial charges, and on November twenty second, twenty sixteen, Larry
was formally charged in Ingham County, Michigan, with three counts
of first degree criminal sexual conduct, including one involving a
victim under the age of thirteen. Upon pleading not guilty,
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he was released on a one million dollar bond, but
no one expected him to be out for long. Michigan's
Attorney General, Bill Shootey warned that this case was just
the tip of the iceberg, imparting the severity of the allegations,
as police revealed that over fifty victims had thus far
made claims of sexual abuse against the disgraced sports medicine doctor.
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The rest of the Iceberg Bill shoot he had referred
to began to reveal itself when on December sixteen, twenty sixteen,
Larry Nasser was arrested and indicted on federal child pornography charges.
According to the indictment, he was in possession of over
thirty seven thousand sexually explicit images and videos of children,
accumulated between two thousand and three and twenty sixteen. This
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charge marked a significant turn in Larry's legal battles, highlighting
the breadth of his criminal activities beyond the allegations of
hands on abuse. According to Playing Dirty's prosecution consultants, Larry's
creation and possession of child pornography strongly indicates that he
is a pedophile. Pedophilia is a psychiatric disorder in which
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an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive
sexual attraction to pre pubescent children, and when it comes
to the law, evidence of pedophilia is often the proverbial
nail in the coffin when it comes to sentencing. After all,
for the public, it is hard to contemplate anything more
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frightening and unforgivable than harming society's most vulnerable and innocent members.
Our children are precious to us, and our childhoods are
precious to us, which is why the women who had
lost their childhoods to Larry NASA's abuse decided to fight
back more directly for themselves. It wasn't enough for him
to be arrested for child pornography. He had to pay
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for the harm he had inflicted on them. So on
January tenth, twenty seventeen, eighteen of Larry's victims brought a
federal lawsuit against him, Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics, and
the Twist Stars USA Gymnastics Club due alleged sexual assault, battery, molestation,
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and harassment of them by Larry Nasser between nineteen ninety
six and twenty sixteen. The women demanded the institutions be
held accountable for their failure to take protective action, even
when they were repeatedly put on notice that they had
a sexual predator in their midst. The plano's attorney, Stephen
dru told the press that the purpose of the litigation
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was not financial, but rather to act as a mechanism
to achieve institutional change in non monetary concessions. So the
acts of sexual abuse like this will never happen again
to young athletes and students. He continued to stress to
reporters that protecting children is more important than enhancing the
reputation of the athletic system that invites their participation. Children
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are vulnerable because they trust, and once that trust and
innocence is stolen, it cannot be easily restored. Rachel Dinelander,
the the only plaintiff in the lawsuit who was willing
to be named, expressed what it was like to experience
such terrible mistreatment as a child and to gain understanding
of what it transpired in adulthood. The fear and shame
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in myself was my own misunderstanding, she told reporters. The
reality of sexual abuse is that a pedophile is only
as powerful as people around him allow him to be.
On January twenty fourth, twenty seventeen, Larry Nasser's medical license
was officially revoked, finally putting an end to the medical
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career that had served as a smoke screen for sexual assault. Further,
the influx of institutional accountability continued when on January twenty six,
twenty seventeen, police in Texas confirmed they were investigating a
sexual assault case related to Larry Nasser that involved inquiries
at the renowned Coroli Ranch. Coroly Ranch was a gymnastics
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camp facility that was the site of the main training
center for the United States Women's national gymnastics team. An
invitation to train at Coroli Ranch could be a career
game changer for aspiring young gymnasts, and so parents would
support their daughter's attendants there, even though parental supervision was
not allowed. Attorney Gary Jewell, representing ranch owners and legendary
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Olympic coaches Bella and Marta Coroli, set shock waves through
the public when he disclosed the Texas Rangers had visited
the acclaimed facility as part of their Larry Nasser investigation.
Needless to say, it was ultimately discovered that the Coroli
Ranch had been a breeding ground for child abuse. Tucked
away from their parents, young gymnasts were subjected to routine
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mistreatment by USA Gymnastics staff working at the ranch. According
to US Olympian Jamie Dansher, Larry Nasser was actually considered
by most of the gymnasts training there to be the
best of a bad lot. Larry was the only nice
adult who was part of USA, say gymnastic staff, she
remembered in the documentary athlete A. Numerous gymnasts back up
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this alarming claim by Jamie, sharing that the trainers would
routinely say things like you're a pig and fat cow
to the girls. Not to mention the allegations of Marta
Coroli slapping them, leaving her ring imprints on their faces.
In light of the toxic training atmosphere, Jamie Dansher said
that she didn't realize at the time that Larry Nasser
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was doing something wrong. On the contrary, she says she
shockingly appreciated his emotional support in an otherwise harsh atmosphere
during training at the Coroli Ranch. I felt like we
weren't allowed to even smile in the gym, Jamie recalled,
so getting treatment included Dr Nasser just joking around and
talking about how horrible the coaches were. It was kind
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of like a bright light, I guess you could say.
Without any cell phone reception at the Coroli Ranch and
no adults genuinely looking out for their well being, these
young gymnasts were very much alone. The Coroli's legendary facility,
the training ground for so many gymnastics champions, was now
pulled into the Larry Nasser investigation, public awareness and outrage
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reached a fever pitch on February nineteenth, twenty seventeen, when
on the heels of the Caroli Ranch bombshell, gymnast Jamie Dansher,
Jeanette Anteline, and Jessica Howard shared their harrowing experiences with
Larry Nasser in a candid sixty minutes interview. No one
wanted to step out of line because there's a group
of people that were making decisions that dictated whether you'd
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be successful or not, Jeanette Anteline said, So you just
complied with what you were told to do. The sixty
minutes expose provided an emotional focus for the public, highlighting
the human toll of Larry Nasser's abuse and the systemic
failures that had allowed it to continue. Justice would not
be put off any longer. The public would not tolerate
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further dilly dallying when it came to realizing justice for
Larry Nassar's victims. On February seventeenth, twenty seventeen, a district
judge confirmed after a preliminary hearing that there was sufficient
evidence for Larry Nasser to stand trial in Ingham County
Circuit Court on three sexual assault charges. Mere days later,
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on February twenty second, twenty seventeen, new sexual assault charges
were lodged against Larry. These charges were intricately linked to
his roles at Michigan State University and his work with
Twis Stars gymnastics club, and more criminal charges in other
courts soon followed. The civil lawsuit against Larry Nasser and
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the institutions that seemingly protected him had ballooned too. Whereas
the suit had started with just eighteen plaintiffs, by twenty seventeen,
there were one hundred and nineteen, and that number would
continue to grow. Karma was coming for Larry Nasser, and
he knew it. On July eleventh, twenty seventeen, he fired,
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only accepted some responsibility, and pleaded guilty to three federal
child pornography charges, acknowledging his possession of thousands of sexually
explicit images of children. NPR reported that Acting US Attorney
Andrew Birge said were doctor Nassar's admissions of guilt on
federal charges. Today, victims and the public can be assured
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that a day of reckoning is indeed in doctor Nassar's future.
Today's guilty plea insures at all of doctor Nasar's victims,
including those who are not victims of the current charges
or referenced in the plea agreement, will have an opportunity
for vindication through the broad federal sentencing process. My office
will be aggressively pursuing a sentence that accounts for all
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of doctor Nassar's conduct. US Attorney Burge kept his word,
and Larry Nasar's guilty plea led directly to a sentencing
on December seventh, twenty seventeen, sixty years in federal prison.
Since Larry was already fifty four years old, this will
what many referred to as a pine box sentence, meaning
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he would be leaving prison in a coffin, but still
even facing the rest of his life in prison. Larry
Nasser's troubles were far from over because now high profile
gymnasts from the twenty twelve US Olympic team, including Mikayla Maroney,
Ali Raisman, and Gabby Douglas, had decided to speak out.
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They publicly disclosed their abuse by Larry Nasser in late
twenty seventeen, drawing significant media attention to his case. And
furthering public outrage. Michaela recounted a particularly terrifying ordeal, recalling
how Larry had given her a sleeping aid during the
flight to the twenty eleven World Championships. When she got
to his hotel room for supposed treatment, she was not
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feeling like herself. It was very, very hard for me
not to acknowledge the fact that this was not treatment.
I was being abused. I was bawling, naked on a bed,
him on top of me, like fingering me. I thought
I was going to die. It was escalating. Mikayla recalled
that it seemed like Larry became a different person during
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the assault. I didn't feel like it was him anymore.
It was this other thing that took over the dark
part of him. Even his pine Box sentence of December seventh,
twenty seventeen was insufficient punishment for Larry Nassar. As these
new accounts now from some of the world's top athletes
surfaced relentlessly, it was Judge rose Marie Aquilina who ultimately
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drew a line under Larry Nassir's horrific crimes after reading
aloud a six page single space letter from Larry to
the court, in which he stated that he feared for
his mental health amid the parade of women speaking out
against him, and accused the judge of turning the hearing
into a media circus by placing him in the witness
box to face his victims in view of the cameras.
(33:57):
She was livid. I have to say this is isn't
worth the paper it's written on. Judge Aquallina admonished him,
you may find it harsh that you are here listening,
but nothing is as harsh as what your victims endured
for thousands of hours at your hands. Spending four or
five days listening to them is minor considering the hours
(34:17):
of pleasure you've had at their expense, ruining their lives. Then,
on January twenty fourth, twenty eighteen, Judge Aquallina sentenced Larry
Nasser to up to one hundred and seventy five years
in prison, declaring, Sir, you do not deserve to walk
outside of a prison ever again. I just signed your
death warrant. Mmmmmm, I'm having some celebration fruit punch with raspberries, strawberries, lemon,
(34:46):
mint and orange. After that outcome, nothing tastes quite as
sweet as knowing those women took back their power, stood
up for their rights, and served up some serious justice.
But while Larry Nasser's maximum convey provided some closure for
his victims, the scandal was far from over. Questions lingered
about the depth of institutional failure and the extent to
(35:10):
which a culture of silence and complicity had empowered a criminal.
What happened to all the other dirty players in this
disturbing saga. Come back next week and join me your host,
Jay Harris, as I dish out the outcomes for USA Gymnastics,
Michigan State University, and all the other organizations implicated in
Larry Nasher's crimes on the next episode of Playing Dirty
(35:33):
Sports Scandals. Playing Dirty Sports Scandals is a production of
Dan Patrick Productions, Never Ever Productions and Workhouse Media from
executive producers Dan Patrick, Paul Anderson, Nick Panela, Maya Glickman,
(35:56):
and Jennifer Clary, Hosted by Jay Harris, Written and produced
by Jen Brown, Francie Hanks, Maya Glickman, and Jennifer Clare.
Welcome back to playing dirty sports scandals. I'm Jay Harris.
You're a barista extraordinaire, serving up the juiciest scandals to
ever rock the sports world. As a veteran of sports journalism,
from the bright lights of ESPN to my in depth
discussions on Outside the Lines, I've had a taste of
the very best and the very worst of what sports
(00:28):
has to offer. Today, we're going to start unraveling an
example of one of the worst sports stories to come
to light in recent years. We're stepping into a scandal
steeped in dirt, with incredibly high stakes and profound betrayals.
(00:52):
It's a revolting brew that will turn your stomach and
quite possibly shake any societally ingrained and fundamental belief you
have that medical professionals are inherently trustworthy. Because today, my
thirsty friend, I'm taking you behind the scenes of what
went down with Larry Nasser. Clear your palette while you
(01:13):
can ah nothing quite like carrot apple and ginger juice
to brace the belly for a salacious sports scandal. We're
as ready as we can be, so let's meet Larry.
Larry Nasser's early life was seemingly pretty impressive. Born in safe,
affluent Farmington Hills, Michigan, to Lebanese parents on August sixteenth,
(01:36):
nineteen sixty three, it was apparent by the young age
of fifteen that Larry was destined to work with gymnasts.
His older brother, Mike, who was an athletic director at
North Farmington High School, encouraged Larry to work beside him,
gaining hands on experience supporting gymnast's health and performance goals.
Larry was so committed to the North Farmington High School
(01:57):
gymnastics team that he earned a varsity letter in women's
artistic gymnastics in nineteen eighty one. Larry doubled down on
his commitment to sports medicine during his undergraduate years at
the University of Michigan, where he graduated in nineteen eighty
five with a degree in kinesiology, which is the study
of human body movement, And by nineteen eighty six, less
(02:17):
than a year after his graduation and at just twenty
three years old, Larry Nasser joined the USA Gymnastics national
team medical staff as an athletic trainer. I told you
in his youth, Larry certainly came across as a driven,
career minded guy headed for a lifetime of achievement. By
nineteen eighty eight, his dedication to the USA Gymnastics national
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team had caught the attention of coaches John and Catherine Gedert,
who were highly established in the world of gymnastics as
the founders of Geert's Twist Stars USA Gymnastics Club in Diamondale, Michigan.
John and Catherine were well known for delivering winning results
from the gymnast day coached, and their opinions carried real
weight in the gymnastics community. Their approval of Larry Nasser
(03:03):
propelled him into more prominent roles, accelerating his already rapid
rise as a health professional. But to really reach his
full career potential, Larry knew that he needed to advance
his academic qualifications. He wanted to be more than a trainer.
He wanted to be a doctor, so he went back
to school to earn his graduate degree from Michigan State University.
(03:26):
By nineteen ninety three, Larry Nasser had graduated as a
Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from MSU. He then completed his
residency training at Saint Lawrence Hospital, which is considered one
of the top medical institutions in Lansing, Michigan, before completing
a fellowship in sports medicine. By nineteen ninety seven, thanks
to the connections he'd already made with prominent coaches John
(03:48):
and Catherine Gedett, Larry Nasser landed the prestigious position of
national medical Coordinator for USA Gymnastics in nineteen ninety six,
even before he'd officially completed it at his fellowship, Larry
had cruised through school and was a big deal doctor
by age thirty four, pulling down a one hundred thousand
dollars per year salary which would be equivalent to more
(04:10):
than like two hundred thousand and twenty twenty four from
his assistant professor job at Michigan State University's College of
Human Medicine alone. He'd also met and married a fellow
medical professional from MSU, Stephanie. But even with his burgeoning
career and new marriage, Larry still managed to find plenty
of time to volunteer, seeming to ooze passion for everything
(04:33):
and anything related to sports medicine. What a guy right.
In fact, according to investigative journalist Daniel Murphy, Larry Nasser's
early success was significantly boosted by his willingness to go
above and beyond volunteering his time and offering to pay
his own way to national gymnastics events. There was no
doctor or athletic trainer who was as passionate about the
(04:55):
sport as Nasa was, probably in the world, Daniel Murphy wrote.
But just because Larry Nassa was passionate about gymnastics didn't
mean that athlete's well being was always prioritized under his care. Rather,
Larry served the team's winning objectives, and his unique approach
to sports medicine often involved providing coaches with workarounds to
(05:19):
keep athletes active and training while managing their injuries. This
was a critical advantage in a fields where careers are
notoriously short and demanding. But was it in the best
health interests of the gymnasts themselves. Arguably not. Doctors take
a hippocratic oath to do no harm. Perhaps Larry's willingness
(05:39):
to keep gymnasts driving their overworked bodies to big metal
wins was an early indication that he didn't take his
hippocratic oath seriously enough. Even so, Larry Nasser had cultivated
the persona of a devoted and skilled medical professional. He'd
fast become a trusted figure in American gymnastics, bearing responsibility
for the care of the nation's top young athletes, most
(06:02):
of whom were young girls. And this was a problem
because beneath his facade of professional excellence and unrivaled specialist
medical expertise, Larry Nasser couldn't be trusted around young girls.
You see, Larry Nasser, for all his accolades and prestigious
jobs and well connected friends, was a predator. Now, Larry
(06:24):
had always been a predator, even as he was in
the early days of building up a thriving career, shaking hands,
traveling and making friends in high places. There was a
dark side to his personality aside that Kyle Stephens saw
when she was just six years old. Kyle Stevens grew
up in Lansing, Michigan, and her parents were close friends
with Larry Nasser and his wife, Stephanie. According to an
(06:46):
NPR interview with Kyle, almost every Sunday in the late
nineteen nineties, Stephanie Nasser and Kyle's mom would make dinner
together for the two families, and while they were doing that,
Kyle and her older brother would hang out in the
Naser's basement under the eyes of being helpful to the
other adults, Larry would offer to go downstairs and play
hide and seek with Kyle and her brother. Once the
(07:08):
children were separated in different hiding places, Larry would find
Kyle and abuse her while her brother was still crouched
in a closet or curled up in a cabinet, believing
that an actual game of hide and seek was still on.
Other times, Larry would sit down next to Kyle on
the couch while the kids were watching TV in the
basement and put a blanket over just the two of them. Then,
(07:30):
Kyle shared years later, he would just act like he's
watching TV with us and then abuse me under the
blanket with my brother sitting next to us. Under the blanket,
Larry would rub Kyle's feet against his penis and slip
his fingers inside her vagina. When she was twelve years old,
after six years of sexual abuse, Kyle Stevens finally worked
(07:52):
up the courage to tell her parents about what had
been happening, about what was still happening. They didn't believe her.
Years later, Kyle Stephens's father would commit suicide, and Kyle
believes that his dismissal of her sexual abuse claim was
a major factor in that tragic outcome, and the tragic
outcomes inflicted upon others by Larry Nasser were just getting started.
(08:14):
In a short amount of time, there would be piles
of shattered lives in his wake. The first major complaints
by gymnasts about Larry Nasser's misconduct traced back to the
late nineteen nineties and were consistently mishandled by both Michigan
State University and the USA Gymnastics Organization. In nineteen ninety seven,
(08:34):
teenage gymnast Larissa Boyce and one of her teammates became
the first women to speak up about their concerns. They
reported to MSU coach Kathy Klegus that they believed Larry
Naster's sports medicine treatments were inappropriate. According to em Live,
Larissa Boyce told coach Klegus that she and her teammate
had been vaginally penetrated. Yet, instead of reporting their incredibly
(08:57):
serious allegations to university authority or law enforcement, coach Kleagus
instead spoke to Larry Nasser directly about what the young
women had shared with her. Of course, Larry squashed the complaint.
Larissa Boyce and her teammate were compelled to apologize to
him for the misunderstanding, and then Larissa went on to
have more than one hundred treatments with him as part
(09:19):
of her gymnastics curriculum at MSU. To this day, Larissa
Boyce says she experiences migraines, panic attacks, and suicidal thoughts
because of the assaults she endured at the hands of
Larry Nasser. And Larissa Boyce's experience with Larry Nasser as
a gymnast is sadly not an isolated one. Also, in
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nineteen ninety seven, a parent complained to Larry's crony, Twist
Star's owner, John Geddert, about the questionable medical treatments Larry
had provided to her daughter in a back room at
the gymnastics facility. Not only did John Geeddert fail to
investigate this complaint and raise the alarm with the USA
Gymnastics organization, but he continued to recommend Larry Nasser as
(10:03):
a physician and provided him with a room at the
Twist Stars facility for treatment purposes. Larry Nasser was surely
emboldened here he was being called out by his young
female victims, but because he was an adult male in
a respected position, no one believed their complaints. Under the
guise of performing medical treatments, Larry Nasser had seemingly been
(10:26):
given free reign to conduct sexual assault. The lack of
appropriate response from Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics and Twist
Stars allowed Larry's predatory behavior to continue unchecked. These organizations
that employed Larry had sent a terrible message to gymnasts
that speaking out got you nowhere. Through their inaction, USA
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Gymnastics in Michigan State University had established environments where the
well being of athletes was overshadowed by competitive success. Gymnastics
can be a ruthless sport, and when you couple that
level of pressure with a hierarchical structure that placed immense
value on authority figures like Larry Nasser, young athletes felt
powerless to challenge or question his methods. The fear of retaliation,
(11:12):
such as losing their place on the team or damaging
their career prospects kept Larry's victims silent. There is no
other sport in which this could have happened, but gymnastics,
said Joan Ryan, who wrote the nineteen ninety five book
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes about the physical and psychological
toll gymnastics takes on girls and young women. These girls
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are groomed from an incredibly young age to deny their
own experience. Your knee hurts, you're being lazy, you're hungry. No,
you're fat and greedy. They are trained to doubt their
own feelings, and that's why this sexual abuse could happen
to over one hundred and fifty of them. Gymnasts who
worked with Larry Nasser often report how initially impressed they
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were by his medical expertise and how they implicitly trusted
him as an ally in their sporting careers. He's the
type of person who knows how to make you want
to trust him, former gymnast Rachel Dentolander told The Indianapolis
Star in September twenty sixteen. Alexis Moore, who was just
nine years old when she had the misfortune of crossing
paths with Larry Nasser, supported Rachel Dnilander's assessment of Larry's personality.
(12:19):
For years, mister Nasser convinced me that he was the
only person who could help me recover from multiple serious injuries.
To me, he was like a knight in shining armor.
Alexis explained, But Rachel's, Alexis's, and every other gymnast's early
trust was almost always exploited by Larry in the most
egregious ways. For instance, there was Jessica Howard, a national
(12:44):
champion in rhythmic gymnastics. Rhythmic gymnastics differs from the better
known artistic gymnastics. Only women compete in rhythmic gymnastics at
the international level, and the sport exclusively takes place on
the floor, with the athletes using dance moves and tools
like ribbons and hoops. Rhythmic gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous,
(13:06):
and coordinated. A national champion like Jessica Howard would have
depended heavily on her assigned doctor of sports medicine to
keep her competition ready. But just as many other gymnasts
came to realize, Jessica Howard could not depend on Larry Nasser.
I remember thinking something was off when he was treating me,
but I didn't feel like I was able to say
(13:28):
anything because he was this very high profile doctor, Jessica
told CBS News Chief medical correspondent Jonathan Lepuuk. Jessica rationalized
that his gloveless intervaginal massages to relieve back in hip
pain must somehow make sense, must somehow be acceptable. After all,
how could a professional so respected by his peers and
(13:51):
institutions be capable of systematic sexual abuse. Surely, if doctor
Larry Nasser was abusing athletes, the USA Gymnastics Organization would
have shut him down long ago. Right wrong. At the
USA Gymnastics Organization, athletes were instead frequently reminded of the
privilege of their positions, which implicitly discouraged any complaints that
(14:14):
could disrupt their training or tarnish the sport's image, And
Michigan State University mirrored this toxic party line, squashing the
complaints which did arise against renowned employee doctor Larry Nasser
to protect their institution's reputation at all costs. So the
predator continued to pray. He victimized young female gymnasts with
(14:36):
his criminal vaginal treatments through his involvement with the Olympic teams,
including the two thousand and eight Games in Beijing, China,
and he continued to abuse gymnasts at Michigan State University,
with the university actually clearing him of any wrongdoing. After
a graduate named Amanda Thomas Show complained of sexual assault
during a medical examination in twenty fourteen. This was a
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particularly this shocking incident since it put him, as you,
in breach of the federal law known as Title nine,
which protects women from sex discrimination. The law was the
vanguard for establishing that college athletics had to offer equal
opportunity for young women just as they did for young men,
and in order to provide equal opportunity, colleges must provide
(15:20):
equal safety for athletes of both genders. The protection of
female students from sexual harassment or assault is paramount to
Title nine compliance. So what happened exactly well, the person
in charge of Title nine adherent at Michigan State University
was a woman named Christine Moore. When Amanda Thomas Show
(15:41):
filed her complaint against Larry Nasser, Christine Moore failed to
consider the previous complaints against him. She failed to properly
investigate the incident, instead relying exclusively on the testimony of
Larry's medical professional cronies, and she failed to use any
common sense. Who hears of a doctor consistently inserting his
(16:02):
fingers into students vaginas without a glove and manipulating their
breasts and doesn't bat an eye. Christine Moore had an
opportunity to stop Larry Nasser, but she missed it, and
so his pool of young, sexually abused athletes continued to
grow and grow. Unbelievably, the mishandling of complaints against Larry
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Nasser was not confined to USA Gymnastics, Michigan State University,
and other gymnastics organizations. It even extended to federal law enforcement.
In July twenty fifteen, the FBI opened an investigation into
Larry Nasser after Stephen Penny, the then president and CEO
of USA Gymnastics, finally reported the allegations made by gymnast
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Maggie Nichols. Stephen Penny provided the FBI's Indianapolis Field office
with the names of three of Larry Nasser's victims who
were willing to be interviewed. It would later be discovered
that by this time Larry had abused approximately two hundred women.
You would think that the Federal Bureau of Investigation would
have been all over this opportunity to investigate, but they
(17:11):
totally blew it. By September twenty fifteen, two months after
Steven Penny reported Maggie's allocations. The FBI had interviewed only
one of the witnesses and then failed to document the
interview in one of their official reports, known by their
Federal Document designation three O two. Then they didn't document
the case until February twenty seventeen. FBI rules require that
(17:37):
three O twos be completed and submitted within days of
an interview event, yet they waited years to do so
with this case. It's unthinkable that such an oversight could
have happened, but it did, and so more time was
lost and more women were abused by the slippery sex
offender Larry Nassar. Female athletes could not count on any
(18:00):
one to protect them. This is why the downfall of
Larry Nasser came, not because of the institutions that were
meant to protect athletes, or even because of law enforcements
sworn to protect the public, but from determined journalism and
the bravery of survivors who decided to speak out. The
beginning of the end for Larry Nasser began in earnest
with an explosive investigation by the Indianapolis Star in September
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twenty sixteen, more than a year After the FBI opened
its case and promptly buried it, journalists Marisa Kotkowski, Mark Elisia,
and Tim Evans of The Indianapolis Star published a groundbreaking
report that exposed systemic failures within USA Gymnastics in handling
sexual abuse complaints against coaches and personnel, including Larry Nasser.
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The investigation, which was part of a broader series titled
Out of Balance, meticulously detailed how complaints were routinely ignored
or mishandled, allowing abusers to continue their misconduct unchecked. Shelley Haymaker,
an Indiana attorney who represents abuse victims in child welfare cases,
told the journalists that USA gymnastics approach to the complaints
(19:08):
against Larry Nasser made her sick. USAG may not have
been the hand that ultimately abused these innocent children, Shelley
Haymaker said, but it was definitely the arm. The in
depth reporting by The Indianapolis Star made an impact. Not
only had the paper spotlighted Larry Nasser's abuse, it had
also ignited a national conversation about the culture of silence
(19:33):
pervasive in competitive gymnastics. Now that such horrifying revelations had
been made, public by The Indianapolis Star. Michigan State University,
where Larry Nasser had been a long standing faculty member,
was finally compelled to act. Within weeks of the article's publication.
On August thirtieth, twenty sixteen, MSU relieved Larry of his
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clinical and patient duties pending further investigation. It was the
publication of The Indianapolis Star's investigation that prompted someone else
to act as well. Rachel Dennelander, a former gymnast in
one of Larry Nasser's earliest known victims, decided to come
forward publicly. She was the first gymnast to publicly identify herself,
(20:19):
and her bravery turned the tide. Rachel contacted the newspaper
after its initial report and shared her story, recounting how
Larry had sexually abused her under the guise of medical
treatment when she was only fifteen years old. Her disclosure
marked the beginning of a wave of testimonies from other
gymnasts who now felt empowered to share their experiences. Rachel's
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public stance and subsequent media appearances helped other survivors find
their voices. As more young women came forward, the scale
of Larry Nassar's crimes was impossible to ignore. The floodgates
had opened, and what started as a trickle of isolated,
behind closed door reports swelled into a torrent of collective
(21:02):
outrage and demand for accountability, thanks to Rachel Dentilander and
The Indianapolis Star. On September twentieth, twenty sixteen, Michigan State University,
which it pressed pause on Larry Nasser's involvement with student
patients pending further investigation, at the end of August, formally
terminated his employment. I have confidence in the robustness of
(21:25):
the reviews we have underway, in our unceasing commitment to
evaluate how we can be better tomorrow than we are
today than Michigan State University President lou Anna K. Simon
penned in a letter to students and alumni. The decision
to give Larry Nasser the boot was a long time coming,
and while his departure undoubtedly made the campus safer and
(21:47):
better than it had previously been, MSU's reputation was certain
to take a hit. A better late than never attitude
towards the situation by the administration was just not acceptable.
Why in the world had it taken the university so
long to see the writing on the wall, to prioritize
student protection, and to remove a predator from campus. A
(22:09):
torrent of uncomfortable questions were coming from Michigan State University, USA, Gymnastics,
Twist Stars, and the FBI. At the center of the
storm was, of course, Larry Nasser himself. It seemed that
after wreaking so much havoc and causing so much pain
to others, that he was finally due a come uppance.
(22:30):
The cascade of legal repercussions for Larry Nasser's snowballed following
initial charges, and on November twenty second, twenty sixteen, Larry
was formally charged in Ingham County, Michigan, with three counts
of first degree criminal sexual conduct, including one involving a
victim under the age of thirteen. Upon pleading not guilty,
(22:51):
he was released on a one million dollar bond, but
no one expected him to be out for long. Michigan's
Attorney General, Bill Shootey warned that this case was just
the tip of the iceberg, imparting the severity of the allegations,
as police revealed that over fifty victims had thus far
made claims of sexual abuse against the disgraced sports medicine doctor.
(23:13):
The rest of the Iceberg Bill shoot he had referred
to began to reveal itself when on December sixteen, twenty sixteen,
Larry Nasser was arrested and indicted on federal child pornography charges.
According to the indictment, he was in possession of over
thirty seven thousand sexually explicit images and videos of children,
accumulated between two thousand and three and twenty sixteen. This
(23:37):
charge marked a significant turn in Larry's legal battles, highlighting
the breadth of his criminal activities beyond the allegations of
hands on abuse. According to Playing Dirty's prosecution consultants, Larry's
creation and possession of child pornography strongly indicates that he
is a pedophile. Pedophilia is a psychiatric disorder in which
(23:59):
an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive
sexual attraction to pre pubescent children, and when it comes
to the law, evidence of pedophilia is often the proverbial
nail in the coffin when it comes to sentencing. After all,
for the public, it is hard to contemplate anything more
(24:19):
frightening and unforgivable than harming society's most vulnerable and innocent members.
Our children are precious to us, and our childhoods are
precious to us, which is why the women who had
lost their childhoods to Larry NASA's abuse decided to fight
back more directly for themselves. It wasn't enough for him
to be arrested for child pornography. He had to pay
(24:42):
for the harm he had inflicted on them. So on
January tenth, twenty seventeen, eighteen of Larry's victims brought a
federal lawsuit against him, Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics, and
the Twist Stars USA Gymnastics Club due alleged sexual assault, battery, molestation,
(25:03):
and harassment of them by Larry Nasser between nineteen ninety
six and twenty sixteen. The women demanded the institutions be
held accountable for their failure to take protective action, even
when they were repeatedly put on notice that they had
a sexual predator in their midst. The plano's attorney, Stephen
dru told the press that the purpose of the litigation
(25:26):
was not financial, but rather to act as a mechanism
to achieve institutional change in non monetary concessions. So the
acts of sexual abuse like this will never happen again
to young athletes and students. He continued to stress to
reporters that protecting children is more important than enhancing the
reputation of the athletic system that invites their participation. Children
(25:50):
are vulnerable because they trust, and once that trust and
innocence is stolen, it cannot be easily restored. Rachel Dinelander,
the the only plaintiff in the lawsuit who was willing
to be named, expressed what it was like to experience
such terrible mistreatment as a child and to gain understanding
of what it transpired in adulthood. The fear and shame
(26:13):
in myself was my own misunderstanding, she told reporters. The
reality of sexual abuse is that a pedophile is only
as powerful as people around him allow him to be.
On January twenty fourth, twenty seventeen, Larry Nasser's medical license
was officially revoked, finally putting an end to the medical
(26:36):
career that had served as a smoke screen for sexual assault. Further,
the influx of institutional accountability continued when on January twenty six,
twenty seventeen, police in Texas confirmed they were investigating a
sexual assault case related to Larry Nasser that involved inquiries
at the renowned Coroli Ranch. Coroly Ranch was a gymnastics
(26:58):
camp facility that was the site of the main training
center for the United States Women's national gymnastics team. An
invitation to train at Coroli Ranch could be a career
game changer for aspiring young gymnasts, and so parents would
support their daughter's attendants there, even though parental supervision was
not allowed. Attorney Gary Jewell, representing ranch owners and legendary
(27:21):
Olympic coaches Bella and Marta Coroli, set shock waves through
the public when he disclosed the Texas Rangers had visited
the acclaimed facility as part of their Larry Nasser investigation.
Needless to say, it was ultimately discovered that the Coroli
Ranch had been a breeding ground for child abuse. Tucked
away from their parents, young gymnasts were subjected to routine
(27:43):
mistreatment by USA Gymnastics staff working at the ranch. According
to US Olympian Jamie Dansher, Larry Nasser was actually considered
by most of the gymnasts training there to be the
best of a bad lot. Larry was the only nice
adult who was part of USA, say gymnastic staff, she
remembered in the documentary athlete A. Numerous gymnasts back up
(28:06):
this alarming claim by Jamie, sharing that the trainers would
routinely say things like you're a pig and fat cow
to the girls. Not to mention the allegations of Marta
Coroli slapping them, leaving her ring imprints on their faces.
In light of the toxic training atmosphere, Jamie Dansher said
that she didn't realize at the time that Larry Nasser
(28:27):
was doing something wrong. On the contrary, she says she
shockingly appreciated his emotional support in an otherwise harsh atmosphere
during training at the Coroli Ranch. I felt like we
weren't allowed to even smile in the gym, Jamie recalled,
so getting treatment included Dr Nasser just joking around and
talking about how horrible the coaches were. It was kind
(28:50):
of like a bright light, I guess you could say.
Without any cell phone reception at the Coroli Ranch and
no adults genuinely looking out for their well being, these
young gymnasts were very much alone. The Coroli's legendary facility,
the training ground for so many gymnastics champions, was now
pulled into the Larry Nasser investigation, public awareness and outrage
(29:14):
reached a fever pitch on February nineteenth, twenty seventeen, when
on the heels of the Caroli Ranch bombshell, gymnast Jamie Dansher,
Jeanette Anteline, and Jessica Howard shared their harrowing experiences with
Larry Nasser in a candid sixty minutes interview. No one
wanted to step out of line because there's a group
of people that were making decisions that dictated whether you'd
(29:36):
be successful or not, Jeanette Anteline said, So you just
complied with what you were told to do. The sixty
minutes expose provided an emotional focus for the public, highlighting
the human toll of Larry Nasser's abuse and the systemic
failures that had allowed it to continue. Justice would not
be put off any longer. The public would not tolerate
(29:58):
further dilly dallying when it came to realizing justice for
Larry Nassar's victims. On February seventeenth, twenty seventeen, a district
judge confirmed after a preliminary hearing that there was sufficient
evidence for Larry Nasser to stand trial in Ingham County
Circuit Court on three sexual assault charges. Mere days later,
(30:18):
on February twenty second, twenty seventeen, new sexual assault charges
were lodged against Larry. These charges were intricately linked to
his roles at Michigan State University and his work with
Twis Stars gymnastics club, and more criminal charges in other
courts soon followed. The civil lawsuit against Larry Nasser and
(30:38):
the institutions that seemingly protected him had ballooned too. Whereas
the suit had started with just eighteen plaintiffs, by twenty seventeen,
there were one hundred and nineteen, and that number would
continue to grow. Karma was coming for Larry Nasser, and
he knew it. On July eleventh, twenty seventeen, he fired,
(31:00):
only accepted some responsibility, and pleaded guilty to three federal
child pornography charges, acknowledging his possession of thousands of sexually
explicit images of children. NPR reported that Acting US Attorney
Andrew Birge said were doctor Nassar's admissions of guilt on
federal charges. Today, victims and the public can be assured
(31:21):
that a day of reckoning is indeed in doctor Nassar's future.
Today's guilty plea insures at all of doctor Nasar's victims,
including those who are not victims of the current charges
or referenced in the plea agreement, will have an opportunity
for vindication through the broad federal sentencing process. My office
will be aggressively pursuing a sentence that accounts for all
(31:43):
of doctor Nassar's conduct. US Attorney Burge kept his word,
and Larry Nasar's guilty plea led directly to a sentencing
on December seventh, twenty seventeen, sixty years in federal prison.
Since Larry was already fifty four years old, this will
what many referred to as a pine box sentence, meaning
(32:03):
he would be leaving prison in a coffin, but still
even facing the rest of his life in prison. Larry
Nasser's troubles were far from over because now high profile
gymnasts from the twenty twelve US Olympic team, including Mikayla Maroney,
Ali Raisman, and Gabby Douglas, had decided to speak out.
(32:24):
They publicly disclosed their abuse by Larry Nasser in late
twenty seventeen, drawing significant media attention to his case. And
furthering public outrage. Michaela recounted a particularly terrifying ordeal, recalling
how Larry had given her a sleeping aid during the
flight to the twenty eleven World Championships. When she got
to his hotel room for supposed treatment, she was not
(32:47):
feeling like herself. It was very, very hard for me
not to acknowledge the fact that this was not treatment.
I was being abused. I was bawling, naked on a bed,
him on top of me, like fingering me. I thought
I was going to die. It was escalating. Mikayla recalled
that it seemed like Larry became a different person during
(33:09):
the assault. I didn't feel like it was him anymore.
It was this other thing that took over the dark
part of him. Even his pine Box sentence of December seventh,
twenty seventeen was insufficient punishment for Larry Nassar. As these
new accounts now from some of the world's top athletes
surfaced relentlessly, it was Judge rose Marie Aquilina who ultimately
(33:35):
drew a line under Larry Nassir's horrific crimes after reading
aloud a six page single space letter from Larry to
the court, in which he stated that he feared for
his mental health amid the parade of women speaking out
against him, and accused the judge of turning the hearing
into a media circus by placing him in the witness
box to face his victims in view of the cameras.
(33:57):
She was livid. I have to say this is isn't
worth the paper it's written on. Judge Aquallina admonished him,
you may find it harsh that you are here listening,
but nothing is as harsh as what your victims endured
for thousands of hours at your hands. Spending four or
five days listening to them is minor considering the hours
(34:17):
of pleasure you've had at their expense, ruining their lives. Then,
on January twenty fourth, twenty eighteen, Judge Aquallina sentenced Larry
Nasser to up to one hundred and seventy five years
in prison, declaring, Sir, you do not deserve to walk
outside of a prison ever again. I just signed your
death warrant. Mmmmmm, I'm having some celebration fruit punch with raspberries, strawberries, lemon,
(34:46):
mint and orange. After that outcome, nothing tastes quite as
sweet as knowing those women took back their power, stood
up for their rights, and served up some serious justice.
But while Larry Nasser's maximum convey provided some closure for
his victims, the scandal was far from over. Questions lingered
about the depth of institutional failure and the extent to
(35:10):
which a culture of silence and complicity had empowered a criminal.
What happened to all the other dirty players in this
disturbing saga. Come back next week and join me your host,
Jay Harris, as I dish out the outcomes for USA Gymnastics,
Michigan State University, and all the other organizations implicated in
Larry Nasher's crimes on the next episode of Playing Dirty
(35:33):
Sports Scandals. Playing Dirty Sports Scandals is a production of
Dan Patrick Productions, Never Ever Productions and Workhouse Media from
executive producers Dan Patrick, Paul Anderson, Nick Panela, Maya Glickman,
(35:56):
and Jennifer Clary, Hosted by Jay Harris, Written and produced
by Jen Brown, Francie Hanks, Maya Glickman, and Jennifer Clare.
Host
Jay Harris
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