Nassar survivors, citing mistrust of USOC, unlikely to cooperate with investigation

A U.S. Olympic Committee commissioned investigation into the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal will likely conclude without many, if any, of the survivors of the former Team USA physician’s abuse being interviewed by the outside law firm conducting the probe.

While top USOC officials said the investigation has been extended in hopes of interviewing survivors, those survivors’ continued mistrust of the USOC make those interviews unlikely, an attorney for Nassar survivors said in an interview with the Southern California News Group Friday.

The investigation by Ropes & Gray, a Boston law firm, is being conducted against the backdrop of the USOC being named alongside USA Gymnastics, Nassar, and several former top USA Gymnastics officials and coaches in lawsuits filed by Nassar survivors and sexually abused athletes in other Olympic sports.

“There are three organizations you shouldn’t trust your children with,” said John Manly, an Irvine attorney who represents 180 Nassar survivors. “One is USA Gymnastics. Two is the USOC and three are the Catholic bishops.”

The USOC hired Ropes & Gray in February to, according to the law firm, find “not only ‘who knew what when’ and what was done in response, but also the circumstances that contributed to and allowed for Nassar’s abuse to continue for such an extended period of time.”

The firm stressed that it was not representing or providing legal advice to any organization or individual. The firm said it had “full discretion to conduct the investigation and make factual findings in whatever way we choose. We alone will decide what will be included in our report.” That report will be made public upon completion of the investigation, USOC and Ropes & Gray officials said.

Dozens of survivors and Manly have said they remain skeptical about cooperating with the Ropes & Gray investigation because the probe is being paid for by the USOC and because of concerns about top USOC officials’ response and handling of sexual abuse in gymnastics, swimming , taekwondo and other Olympic sports and what they described as the organization’s historical lack of transparency.

“As far as Ropes & Gray goes, through the outside attorneys who are communicating with Ropes & Gray because we have no direct contact with them, we’ve learned that they have not really spoken to any of the survivors and that is a great concern to everyone to anyone is interested in finding out what really happened,” USOC board member Susanne Lyons said. “Because without the voices of the survivors we don’t really have a complete picture of who knew what when and what happened, (what) were the causes.

“I think Ropes &  Gray have been making some very good effort to try to reach out to the survivors and also to speak with their attorney because the reason that they haven’t been speaking with Ropes & Gray, one reason is that their attorney is concerned that any of the things they may reveal to Ropes & Gray could impact future litigation. A little bit of a Catch 22.”

Manly countered that the concern was not just his.

“It’s the concern of hundreds of survivors. Why would they trust the USOC? Imagine priest (sexual abuse) victims being asked to trust the (Catholic) church’s law firm? The fault in the delay is not with the survivors. The fault is with the USOC.”

Manly was asked if he was confident that an agreement could be reached that would result in survivors agreeing to interviews with Ropes & Gray?

“No,” he said.

USOC board chairman Larry Probst said a compromise designed to address survivors’ concerns about potential interviews with Ropes & Gray impacting litigation has been proposed.

“That has been served up, that if they agree to be interviewed by Ropes & Gray whatever they say in those interviews will not compromise, will not prejudice any litigation in place now or in the future,” Probst said. “That’s been served up.”

Manly, however, was unmoved.

“When Larry Probst offers anything the answer is ‘no,’”  Manly said. “I’m not confident this will ever happen. When you treat people as human garbage they don’t tend to like it and they don’t tend to trust the law firm you hired.”

Lyons, who will replace Probst as USOC board chairman next year, said Ropes & Gray has reviewed 1 million USOC and USA Gymnastics documents.

“We’ve been 100 percent forthcoming for anything they’ve asked for,” Lyons said. “So there’s a pretty good paper trail as to what happened. We’re just hopeful that people who have information that could shed more light on this would come forward.”

Manly questioned Lyons figures, citing evidence collected by Congressional committees investigating sexual abuse within the American Olympic movement.

“If there’s a million dlcuments, where are they?” he asked. “Congress doesn’t have a million documents. Why not?”