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With disgraced former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University physician Larry Nassar finally behind bars after sexually assaulting more than 260 people, many of whom female gymnasts, under the guise of medical treatment for roughly two decades, let's have a look at the top 10 things you need to know about this scandal.
For starters, here is some background information before we get to these top 10 things. Nassar was arrested in December of 2016, and he was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison this past December on three child pornography charges.
In January, he was sentenced to between 40 and 175 years in state prison on seven sexual assault charges before he was sentenced to between an additional 40 and 125 years in state prison on three more sexual assault charges in February.
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Here are the top 10 things you need to know about this scandal in no particular order.
#1 - Larry Nassar was a master manipulator
For roughly two decades, Larry Nassar was able to get away with sexually assaulting more than 260 individuals, mostly female gymnasts. He was able to do this as a result of the fact that he was a master manipulator.
Nassar would earn the trust of his patients by doing things such as buying them souvenirs, commenting on their posts on social media, and even buying them loaves of bread. He would essentially act as a friend to them, and everyone believed he was a world-class doctor to begin with. So how could he possibly be a sexual predator?
There were those who questioned his treatments, but he convinced them, and many times their parents, that his treatments consisted of legitimate medical procedures.
#1 - Larry Nassar was a master manipulator (continued)
In fact, when Larry Nassar was under investigation in 2014, he sent police four presentations, a research article and 10 videos to convince them that was he was doing was legal.
He even volunteered to perform a procedure on a police officer if any of them would volunteer to act as his patient.
There were also times when the parents of the person Nassar was treating were in the room during the "treatment". Nassar either positioned himself so that they could not see what, exactly, he was doing, or he would cover his patients with a sheet for the same reason.
Sometimes he would even say things to essentially poke fun at the parents of his patients if they seemed to question his procedures. No matter which way you look at it, he had everybody fooled, and when anyone suspected anything, he could cover it up. He did so for roughly two decades.
#2 - Larry Nassar sexually assaulted patients wherever and whenever he could
It didn't matter when it was or where it was. Nassar took every possible opportunity that he could to sexually assault his patients. Such places where he sexually assaulted his patients included hotel rooms, regular operating rooms, his own basement, and their cabins at the Károlyi Ranch.
One such instance during which Nassar assaulted a gymnast in a hotel room took place in 2011. Nassar had given McKayla Maroney, who went on to complete in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England for the United States Olympic women's gymnastics team, a sleeping pill on the flight to Tokyo, Japan for the world championships.
Here is what happened afterward, according to Rebecca Davis O'Brien and Louise Radnofsky of The Wall Street Journal.
"Nassar climbed on top of Ms. Maroney, who lay facedown on a hotel bed disoriented from the pill, says a person familiar with the episode. He removed some of her clothing and, straddling her hips, reached his hand behind his back and put his fingers inside her, rubbing his erection against her body."
#2 - Larry Nassar sexually assaulted patients wherever and whenever he could (continued)
In her tweet from this past October during which she publicly revealed that Nassar had sexually assaulted, McKayla Maroney stated that this was the "scariest night" of her life and that she thought she was going to die.
Maroney has since stated that Larry Nassar sexually assaulted her every time that she went to him for treatment, which comes out to hundreds of times. He even lied to coach Márta Károlyi about the right toe injury that she suffered in London, England prior to the 2012 Summer Olympics so that she could stay on the team.
His ulterior motive was to sexually assault her as much as he could.
Nassar sexually assaulted four of the five members of the 2012 United States Olympic women's gymnastics team, otherwise known as the "Fierce Five", while they were actually at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In addition to Maroney, he sexually assaulted Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber.
#2 - Larry Nassar sexually assaulted patients wherever and whenever he could (continued)
There were several instances during which Nassar sexually assaulted patients in regular operating rooms, even with their parents present. He was able to use a sheet to cover his patients so that their parents could not see what he was doing, and there were some instances during which he positioned himself between the patient and the patient's parents so that the patient's parents could not see everything that was really going on.
Nassar also treated several of his patients in his own basement. Being a world-renowned doctor, he had a busy schedule, but he would find time to give his patients "treatment" even if it did take place in his own basement.
#2 - Larry Nassar sexually assaulted patients wherever and whenever he could (continued)
Nassar also had unfettered access to the gymnasts at USA Gymnastics National Team Training Center at Károlyi Ranch in Huntsville, Texas, which served as the training center for the United States women's national gymnastics team. He was even allowed in their cabins with them at night with no supervision.
This has caused a lot of criticism to be directed at the owners of the ranch, which has now been shutdown. These owners, Béla and Márta Károlyi, are the former USA Gymnastics national team coordinators.
#3 - Béla and Márta Károlyi are not off the hook
Béla and Márta Károlyi, the former USA Gymnastics national team coordinators and owners of the USA Gymnastics National Team Training Center at Károlyi Ranch in Huntsville, Texas, have been criticized to a great extent in the fallout of the Larry Nassar scandal, and justifiably so.
Nassar's sexually assaulted gymnasts there for several years. While the couple claim no responsibility for the fact that he was able to sexually assault so many gymnasts at the ranch, the fact remains that this sexual assault took place on their property.
It really doesn't matter that they weren't the people who selected Nassar to be the doctor at the ranch, and it really doesn't matter that they didn't know exactly what he was doing.
#3 - Béla and Márta Károlyi are not off the hook (continued)
What matters is the fact that Larry Nassar was given unfettered access to the gymnasts at the ranch, even at night when they were in their cabins alone.
As previously referenced, Márta Károlyi's testimony in a 2017 deposition contradicts what she and Béla claimed that they knew about Nassar's sexual assault in the lawsuit that they filed last month against USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic Committee.
This certainly does not paint a good picture of the couple and is certainly not what they need given the fact that they are already facing tons of criticism due to the fact that Nassar sexual assaulted so many gymnasts at the Károlyi Ranch.
#4 - Birds of a feather flock together
Ex-Michigan State University osteopathic medical school dean William Strampel seemingly made it his goal to protect, defend and enable the predatory behavior of Larry Nassar.
He is now in prison for sexual assault himself.
Nassar was investigated by Michigan State's Title IX department in 2014 following sexual assault allegations against him by Amanda Thomashow. Thomashow, however, was told that she didn't understand the different between a legitimate medical procedure and sexual assault, and as a result of this, Nassar was cleared of all wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, Nassar remained under investigation by the Michigan State Police Department for 16 months after the investigation by their Title IX department ended, but Strampel allowed him to continue treating patients under new guidelines.
#4 - Birds of a feather flock together (continued)
These new guidelines included the following information, according to ESPN's Dan Murphy.
"The guidelines included that Nassar should explain fully what he was doing before touching patients near their genitalia or other private areas, that he should avoid skin-to-skin contact whenever possible, and that a chaperone should be present during any such treatment."
Larry Nassar did not adhere to these new guidelines, and William Strampel never checked, either.
In September of 2016, Rachael Denhollander became the first person to publicly accuse Nassar or sexual assault when she took her story to The Indianapolis Star. Tim Evans, a reporter from The Indianapolis Star, proceeded to e-mail Nassar to inform him that he wanted to ask him a few questions.
When Strampel found out about Evans's e-mail to Nassar, e-mailed him the following message:
"Good luck. I am on your side."
#4 - Birds of a feather flock together (continued)
Once The Indianapolis Star published Denhollander's story, Strampel e-mailed Michigan State executive vice president for academic affairs June Youatt, and he stated the following, according to the Washington Post.
“I expect that this will be all over the paper tomorrow...Cherry on the Cake of my day!!!”
However, things did not end up going Strampel's way, as he fired Nassar later that month against his own will and even admitted this in a meeting with a group of students the following month. Here is what he had to say during that meeting, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“This just goes to show that none of you learned the most basic lesson in medicine, medicine 101, that you should have learned in your first week: don’t trust your patients. Patients lie to get doctors in trouble. And we’re seeing that right now in the news with this Nassar stuff. I don’t think any of these women were actually assaulted by Larry, but Larry didn’t learn that lesson and didn’t have a chaperone in the room, so now they see an opening and they can take advantage of him. As soon as I found out I had to fire his a**. I didn’t want to, but what am I supposed to do?”
Strampel protected, defended and enabled Nassar. Is it really surprising that he, too, has been arrested and charged with fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, official misconduct, and willful neglect of duty? It is not surprising whatsoever.
#4 - Birds of a feather flock together (continued)
Even less surprising is the fact that John Geddert, an Olympic gymnastics coach for the United States Olympic women's gymnastics team in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, is currently under criminal investigation for physical assault of gymnasts.
Geddert, who owned Twistars USA Gymnastics Club in Lansing, Michigan until January, was a friend of Nassar, and his physical assault and Nassar's sexual assault essentially worked hand in hand. Geddert would injure gymnasts, many times out of frustration, and they would then go to Nassar, who also worked at Twistars, for "treatment".
Here is what Michigan State University and Twistars gymnast Lindsey Lemke had to say about going to Nassar in Geddert's gym, according to CNN.
“Ironically, Larry was our safe haven.”
As stated on a previous slide, Geddert was one of the people who was informed about Nassar's sexual assault early on, but he took no responsible action.
Birds of a feather flock certainly do flock together, and this is one key reason why seeing comments on social media criticizing Nassar's victims as opposed to Nassar himself or his protectors, defenders and enablers are very alarming on many levels.
#5 - Several people and organizations failed to act
The question is not "why didn't Larry Nassar's victims speak up sooner?" The question is why is something only being done about Larry Nassar's sexual assault now despite the fact that various people were warned about it from the start, all the way back in 1997 and possible even before?"
Former Michigan State University gymnastics coach Kathie Klages was told in 1997 by Michigan State gymnast Larissa Boyce that Nassar had sexually assaulted her. She threatened Boyce with "serious consequences" if she were to file the complaint that Boyce had against Nassar for his sexual assault.
John Geddert was told about Nassar's sexual assault by the parents of at least one gymnast in 1997, but he took no responsible action after hearing these claims, either.
He was also in a car with McKayla Maroney and her teammates in 2011 when Maroney came right out and said what Nassar had done to her the night before. Again, he took no responsible action after hearing these claims.
#5 - Several people and organizations failed to act (continued)
USA Gymnastics were told about Larry Nassar's sexual assault in 2015 by Maggie Nichols, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney. Nichols was the first to tell them, and she was not interviewed for another three weeks, and she was not even interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). She was interviewed by a private investigator named Fran Sepler.
Only after Raisman and Maroney informed USA Gymnastics of what Nassar had done to them did the organization inform the FBI. At this point, Nichols had initially reported the sexual assault that she was forced to endure at the hands of Nassar five weeks prior.
#5 - Several people and organizations failed to act (continued)
The FBI then proceeded to take more than one year to actually pursue this case, during which time dozens of others claim that Larry Nassar sexually assaulted them.
In fact, Aly Raisman stated that she informed Rhonda Faehn, who is still the vice president of USA Gymnastics, of what Nassar had done to her, and at least 40 more gymnasts were sexually assaulted by Nassar after that.
The question "why didn't Nassar's victims speak up sooner?" is based on a 100% fallacy. They did speak up, but no one listened.
#6 - Larry Nassar's victims are undoubtedly heroes
Larry Nassar's victims deserve more recognition for the heroes that they are, even those who were ignored.
As previously noted in this article, Michigan State University gymnast Larissa Boyce reported Nassar's predatory behavior, and she did so back in 1997. In fact, she is the first known person to do so. However, she was ignored, interrogated, humiliated and threatened by the person she told about it. That person was Michigan State gymnastics coach Kathie Klages.
#6 - Larry Nassar's victims are undoubtedly heroes (continued)
There are several other examples similar to those involving Larissa Boyce and Tiffany Lopez over the years as well.
Amanda Thomashow's accusations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2014 led to an investigation by Michigan State's Title IX department and the Michigan State Police Department.
However, Nassar was cleared of all wrongdoing, and Thomashow was told that she did not know the difference between sexual assault and a legitimate medical procedure after Nassar sent police four presentations, a research article and 10 videos to convince them that was he was doing was legal when it was not.
#6 - Larry Nassar's victims are undoubtedly heroes (continued)
Rachael Denhollander became the first person to publicly accuse Larry Nassar of sexual assault when she took her story to The Indianapolis Star in September of 2016. For the first time, one of his victims was not ignored, as he was arrested just three months after Denhollander went public with her story, and he has not been free since. Without Denhollander's bravery, who knows where this situation would be at this point?
McKayla Maroney, who was forced to enter a non-disclosure agreement with USA Gymnastics and was paid $1.25 million as a result of it so that she would not speak publicly about the sexual assault that she was forced to endure at the hands of Nassar, violated this agreement and spoke out publicly about this sexual assault anyway in October, becoming the first high-profile gymnast to do so despite the fact that she risked a $100,000 fine by doing so.
#6 - Larry Nassar's victims are undoubtedly heroes (continued)
Had McKayla Maroney not become the first high-profile gymnast to accuse Larry Nassar of sexual assault and had she not risked a fine by violating that non-disclosure agreement, would any of the others, such as Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Simone Biles and Jordyn Wieber, done so?
They certainly still might have, but if not, would this scandal have ever made the news to the extent that it did and deserved to?
Since revealing in November that Nassar had sexually assaulted her, Aly Raisman has undoubtedly been the leader of the "Army of Survivors". She has continued to rip the people and organizations that protected, defended and enabled Nassar, and she has continued to call for these people and organizations to be held accountable.
After initially not planning on attending nor speaking at Nassar's sentencing hearing in Ingham County, Michigan in January, Raisman ended up both attending and speaking. Her scathing statement went viral and set the tone for pretty much everything that she has been and done since.
#7 - Criticism of Larry Nassar's victims holds no water whatsoever
Ever since the news of this scandal broke, there has been a lot of criticism directed at Larry Nassar's victims. In fact, there have been far too many cases in which his victims have been criticized more so than he has been and more so than his protectors, defenders and enablers have been.
But none of this criticism holds any water whatsoever. Here are a few examples of this criticism that people have directed at Nassar's victims.
Critics say that Nassar's accusers are only "in it for the money". Making this claim insinuates that this whole thing is just one big scam and one big conspiracy against Nassar, effectively meaning that the sexual assault never happened, which we know for a fact that it did.
#7 - Criticism of Larry Nassar's victims holds no water whatsoever (continued)
Making this claim also insinuates that the money for which Larry Nassar's accusers are suing his protectors, defenders and enablers, including USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, rightfully belongs to these protectors, defenders and enablers of him.
In other words, making this claim insinuates that the people and organizations that ignored and turned a blind eye to Nassar's predatory behavior for decades are entitled to the money that they made because of the success of Nassar's victims at the expense of those very victims.
If anyone is "in it for the money", they are these people and the organizations, not the victims themselves who are justifiably seeking justice and accountability.
Here is what Aly Raisman had to say about the matter in January, according to USA Today.
"[USA Gymnastics'] biggest priority from the beginning – and still today – is their reputation, the medals they win and the money they make off of us."
Here is what McKayla Maroney had to say about the matter in April, according to Yahoo Sports.
"USA Gymnastics, MSU and the USOC continued to look away, to protect their reputations. All they cared about is money and medals. It didn’t seem they cared about anything else."
#7 - Criticism of Larry Nassar's victims holds no water whatsoever (continued)
Critics also say that Nassar's accusers are only "in it for the fame". This is pretty easy to disprove, because if this were the case, the critics might actually be able to name more than a handful (if even that) of his accusers.
I have covered this scandal since this past December when Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on child pornography charges, and even I can only name a few dozen of them off the top of my head.
Critics also ask the question, "Why are they only speaking up now?" This question in itself is based on a fallacy, and I will touch on this in far more depth later in this article.
#7 - Criticism of Larry Nassar's victims holds no water whatsoever (continued)
Specifically, critics of Aly Raisman try to justify Larry Nassar for sexually assaulting her based on the fact that she took part in photo shoots for ESPN The Body Issue in 2015 and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in both 2017 and 2018.
First of all, using the fact that Raisman participated in these photo shoots as justification for sexual assault is completely wrong. Anyone who does this clearly does not know the meaning of the word "consent" (or the word "logic").
Plus, no one ever justifies criticism of any kind toward athletes such as Ezekiel Elliott, Odell Beckham Jr. or Giancarlo Stanton just because they took part in photo shoots for ESPN The Body Issue, so justifying Nassar's sexual assault of Raisman over her taking part in these photo shoots is completely out of line.
#7 - Criticism of Larry Nassar's victims holds no water whatsoever (continued)
Even if it wasn't out of line, which it is, Nassar sexually assaulted Raisman, now 23 years old, when she was only 15. This was long before she first appeared in these photo shoots in 2015, the year in which she reported Nassar.
It is a proven fact that these photo shoots had absolutely no effect on Nassar sexually assaulting her. After all, he sexually assaulted more than 260 others who did not take part in photo shoots such as these.
Again, even if they did, it would not make his actions justifiable in any way, shape or form.
In fact, after Raisman took part in photo shoots for ESPN The Body Issue in 2015, Nassar even e-mailed a USA Gymnastics official the following message.
“Really!?!?!?! Can’t they wait until they retire before they take their clothes off!”
The argument of whether or not taking part in these photo shoots is moral is a whole other argument. It certainly doesn't justify sexual assault no matter how you slice it.
#8 - USA Gymnastics tried to keep it quiet
USA Gymnastics tried everything they could possibly do to keep this scandal from reaching national headlines.
In fact, once Larry Nassar was finally arrested in 2016 after sexually assaulting more than 260 individuals under the guise of medical treatment for roughly two decades, USA Gymnastics tried to pay for the silence of several of his victims, namely two of the world's most high-profile gymnasts.
The organization forced McKayla Maroney to sign a non-disclosure agreement so that she would not speak about the sexual assault that she was forced to endure at the hands of Nassar. She was paid $1.25 million to enter this agreement, and she faced the threat of $100,000 if she spoke out anyway.
#8 - USA Gymnastics tried to keep it quiet (continued)
McKayla Maroney did end up violating this agreements, but USA Gymnastics had no way of fining her if they wanted to save face, which was the whole purpose behind making her sign the non-disclosure agreement to begin with.
The organization also offered Aly Raisman a confidentiality settlement agreement, but she refused to sign it knowing that she both wanted and needed to speak up about the sexual assault that she was forced to endure at the hands of Nassar.
While USA Gymnastics denied using non-disclosure agreements in all cases except in the case of Maroney, two settlements say otherwise. This is not a surprise considering the fact that they initially claimed that they did not try to silence Maroney. Who knows what else they could be potentially attempting to cover up?
#9 - It still needs more attention
I wrote an article in January following Larry Nassar's sentencing in Ingham County, Michigan that this scandal finally got the attention that it deserved, as I had previously questioned why it was hardly being discussed and chalked it up to the fact that it did not involve politics and therefore people could not possibly use it to push a political agenda like they do in other situations.
However, this scandal still needs far more attention so that everyone starts to understand and care about the issue that is sexual assault. After all, this is the biggest sexual assault scandal in sports history.
#9 - It still needs more attention (continued)
There are roughly five times as many victims of Larry Nassar as there are of Jerry Sandusky, who was charged with 52 counts of sexual abuse of young boys over a 15-year-period from 1995 to 2009 in a scandal at Penn State University that shook the sports world and the world in general.
The Nassar scandal is a huge deal.
I discussed politics on the previous slide, so I will give a recent example on the next slide of what I am referring to without taking sides on the particular issue because, quite frankly, knowledge of the side that I am on is irrelevant in this situation.
#9 - It still needs more attention (continued)
According to The Nielsen Company, a total of 3.858 million viewers tuned in to “Silent No More”, the Dateline NBC documentary about the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal that featured interviews with McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Gina Nichols, the mother of Maggie Nichols, and Béla and Márta Károlyi, when it aired on NBC on the evening of Sunday, April 22.
Meanwhile, a total of 21.3 million viewers, nearly six times the amount of people who tuned in to "Silent No More", tuned in to Stormy Daniels’ 60 Minutes interview with Anderson Cooper on CBS regarding her consensual sexual affair with President Donald Trump when it aired on the evening of Sunday, March 25.
#9 - It still needs more attention (continued)
Regardless of what side you are on in regard to the aforementioned political situation, imagine if as many people cared enough about actual sexual assault, especially in regard to the biggest sexual assault scandal in sports history, instead of (or even in addition to) an adult film star having a consensual sexual affair with somebody.
The fact that this is not the case is not acceptable. This is what needs to happen. Everyone needs to care so that nothing along the lines of what happened with Larry Nassar happens to anybody ever again.
You can do your part by learning more about preventing sexual assault by taking this online course, which is offered for free when you use the code provided by Aly Raisman.
#10 - The fallout is far from over
While the 54-year-old Larry Nassar is locked up at United States Penitentiary, Tucson in Tucson, Arizona for his 60-year federal prison sentence that he was given on three child pornography charges in December, which may very well be the sentence he is serving upon his death, the fallout from this scandal is far from over.
There are still many, many stones that have yet to be unturned. As far as Nassar's protectors, defenders and enablers go, William Strampel going to prison for his own actions of sexual assault is just the beginning.
#10 - The fallout is far from over (continued)
As previously referenced, John Geddert is still under criminal investigation for physical assault, and there is still so much that we do not know about what penalties could potentially be forthcoming for USA Gymnastics, Michigan State University, and Béla and Márta Károlyi.
Until everything is completely fixed and improvements are made to ensure that nothing like the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal happens every again, the fallout from this scandal will not be over.
Why? Ask Aly Raisman.
"We are here, we have our voices and we are not going anywhere."
