LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – After years of Michigan State University ignoring victims, dragging its feet, and failing to turn over thousands of pages of documents, Attorney General Dana Nessel has closed the investigation into the East Lansing school and its role in the sexual abuse scandal by Larry Nassar.

Nessel explains why she closed the case.

Nessel stated on Wednesday that the department released a report outlining its findings that included no new or relevant information from the withheld documents.

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“MSU has repeatedly justified withholding the documents because they contained information that was allegedly protected by the attorney-client privilege,” Nessel said in a statement. “Our review has revealed that this justification was not always appropriate. A significant number, if not a majority, of the documents did not appear to us to be covered by the privilege. Accordingly, there was no justifiable reason to withhold those documents for any period of time, let alone an extended period.

Nessel continued, “The documents that contained, or at least arguably contained, privileged information did not offer any new insight into MSU’s handling of Nassar’s abuse or who knew what about it and when. Indeed, most of the privileged information was not even related to those issues, but instead to tangential issues such as public relations, insurance, and funding.”

Nessel calls the closure “disappointing.”

The attorney general called the closure of the investigation “disappointing” and acknowledged the continued victimization of young women by Nassar and MSU.  “While I appreciate that MSU eventually cooperated, the withheld documents provided victims with a sense of false hope, for no justifiable reason.” Nessel added, “There remains no fulfilling answer to the question of how this abuse was able to be perpetuated on so many, for so long, without MSU, or anyone else, putting a stop to it.”

The investigation started in 2018 under former Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette. He launched an independent investigation into MSU’s handling of the Larry Nassar situation at the request of the MSU Board  of Trustees. They promised to cooperate, yet held back 6,000 pages of documents under the guise of attorney-client privilege.