Larry Nassar, US doctor who abused athletes, stabbed in prison

Disgraced doctor convicted of sexual abuse is stabbed multiple times but is reportedly in stable condition.

Larry Nassar, a disgraced doctor who was convicted of sexually abusing female gymnasts in the United States, has been stabbed multiple times by another inmate at a federal prison in Florida, US media outlets report.

The Associated Press news agency confirmed the incident on Monday, saying Nassar, who is serving decades in prison, is in stable condition.

Joe Rojas, president of the local correction officers union, told CNN that Nassar was stabbed 10 times – twice in the neck, two times in the back and six times in the chest.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons said an inmate at the US Penitentiary Coleman in Wildwood, Florida, outside Orlando was assaulted on Sunday afternoon but declined to identify the prisoner over privacy and security concerns.

“Responding staff immediately initiated life-saving measures,” bureau spokesperson Benjamin O’Cone said in a statement. “The inmate was transported by [emergency personnel] to a local hospital for further treatment and evaluation.”

Nassar, 60, who worked as a medical coordinator for USA Gymnastics, was convicted on federal and state charges in Michigan in relation to abusing hundreds of female athletes, including Olympic medalists, throughout his career.

He was first charged in 2016, but allegations against him of abusing girls and young women go back to the 1990s.

During a court hearing in 2018, several athletes testified that they had told adults, including coaches and athletic trainers, that they were abused by Nassar but no action was taken against him.

In 2018, Michigan State University, where Nassar worked and assaulted athletes under the guise of medical treatment for nearly two decades, agreed to pay victims $500m in one of the largest settlements for sexual abuse. Survivors also reached a $380m settlement with USA Gymnastics in 2021.

Survivors, including gold medallist Simone Biles, are suing the FBI, alleging that the bureau failed to properly respond to reports of Nassar’s abuse in 2015.

“We have been failed, and we deserve answers,” Biles said during a Senate hearing in 2021. “It really feels like the FBI turned a blind eye to us.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray apologised during the hearing.

“I’m especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed,” he said. “And that’s inexcusable.”

Last year, the Michigan Supreme Court dismissed a final appeal from Nassar. His lawyers had argued that he was treated unfairly in 2018 and deserved a new hearing, based on remarks by a sentencing judge who called him a “monster”.

“I just signed your death warrant,” Ingham County Judge Rosemarie Aquilina had said in 2018 of Nassar’s 40- to 175-year sentence.