DOJ Investigating Sex Abuse Within Olympic Organizations
Inquiries have arisen in the wake of the sexual-abuse case against former national gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar
The U.S. Justice Department is pursuing multiple wide-ranging criminal investigations into sexual abuse in U.S. Olympic sports organizations and into potential financial and business misconduct throughout the U.S. Olympic system, people familiar with the investigations said.
The investigations show the continuing legal pressure faced by top sports and law-enforcement organizations—including the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, USA Gymnastics and the Federal Bureau of Investigation—in the wake of the explosive sexual-abuse case against former national gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar.
That scandal, which erupted three years ago, upended USA Gymnastics, and led to resignations, arrests, lawsuits and congressional hearings.
With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics less than a year away, and demand for accountability across Olympic sports still brewing among victims and lawmakers, federal investigators are operating on several different tracks.
The Justice Department’s money-laundering and child-exploitation units and the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., sent grand-jury subpoenas earlier this year to a range of entities, including the USOPC and the U.S. Center for SafeSport, a nonprofit set up in 2017 to handle reports of abuse in Olympic sports. Prosecutors from those offices, along with investigators from the Internal Revenue Service, have spoken with potential witnesses in recent months regarding alleged abuse and misconduct in Olympic sports organizations, including USA Gymnastics and USA Taekwondo.
