Update, 2/14: Larry Nassar victim doesn't believe Michigan State employees don't remember reports of abuse

Current and former Michigan State University employees have said they don't remember any reports of abuse about ex-MSU doctor Larry Nassar prior to September 2016, according to a statement provided to U.S. senators this week.

In a letter provided to the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security, MSU officials said "there has been no indication" to date that any MSU employee understood Nassar was engaged in sexual misconduct prior to 2016.

That runs counter to statements from several victims, who have said either in lawsuits or while giving victim impact statements at Nassar's sentencing hearings that they told MSU coaches or trainers they were uncomfortable with Nassar's intravaginal treatments as early as 1997.

"Past and present MSU employees have said that they do not remember the alleged reports to them (some of which would have taken place as many as 20 years ago) as they have been described," the letter reads. "To date, there has been no indication that any MSU employee understood at any time prior to September 2016 that Nassar engaged in sexual misconduct."

The letter specifically addresses a Title IX complaint against Nassar filed in April 2014, stating that MSU officials investigated a sexual harassment investigation and concluded no violation of MSU's sexual harassment policy had occurred, and turned over its findings to local law enforcement.

The letter notes "that the complainant was an adult whose specific allegations were different in nature from most allegations brought forward in and after August 2016" and did not involve any form of penetration.

That complaint was filed by Amanda Thomashow, who said during Nassar's Ingham County sentencing hearing that he sexually abused her during an appointment. After an investigation that Thomashow characterized as "brief and sloppy," Nassar was allowed to return to work to see patients until he was let go in 2016, during which time several more women said they were abused by Nassar.

According to the letter, MSU has received 74 complaints to date about Nassar's conduct, and has closed 36 of them due to lack of participation from the claimant. In 2018, 29 complaints were filed and remain open.

The statement comes in response to an inquiry from Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, and ranking Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, who sent requests for information to MSU, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee to look into "multiple organizational failures" to investigate, discipline or remove Nassar.

In a joint statement, Moran and Blumenthal said they plan to seek additional clarification from the institutions involved.

"After our initial review, we remain concerned about potential systemic issues within these institutions and plan to seek additional clarification," they wrote. "As our investigation continues, we expect the USOC, MSU and all NGBs to continue to be transparent and timely with their responses to make certain that, first and foremost, the safety of our athletes remains the top priority."

Nassar, once an acclaimed sports medicine doctor with deep ties in the gymnastics community, was sentenced to 40-175 years in Ingham County and 40-125 years in Eaton County on several counts of first degree criminal sexual conduct.

He pleaded guilty to sexually abusing women under the guise of medical treatment, and heard from more than 200 women in both courtrooms who described in detail the abuse he subjected them to and the suffering he caused.

Many victims described their experiences trying to report Nassar to a trusted coach or trainer, to police, to MSU officials or to their parents.

The earliest known instance of an attempt to report was from Larissa Boyce, who said she and another gymnast told then-MSU gymnastics coach Kathie Klages in 1997 that she was deeply uncomfortable with Nassar's intravaginal procedures. That report never made it further than Klages, she said.

MSU and other institutions connected to Nassar are now the subject of several federal and state investigations over the failure to stop Nassar from abusing women earlier in his decades-long career.

The U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has opened an investigation into Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic Committee, Kayroli Ranch and Twistars, a gymnastics facility in Dimondale.

MSU Response to U.S. Senate Inquiry on Larry Nassar by MLive.com on Scribd