STOCKHOLM, Sweden — First, the Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel Prize in Literature, was rocked by a sexual abuse and harassment scandal, spurring some members to say they would quit the institution.

Then, the first woman to lead the academy, Sara Danius, a literary scholar, was forced out over the mushrooming scandal.

This month, faced with accusations of financial wrongdoing and hints of a cover-up, the academy announced that it would postpone awarding the literature prize for the first time in 69 years, and instead name two winners in 2019.

Now, Lars Heikensten, director of the Nobel Foundation, said in a radio interview on Saturday that there might not be a Nobel Prize in Literature awarded in 2019, either, deepening the crisis at the 232-year-old cultural organization.