Justice Dept. decides against charging FBI agents who mishandled Larry Nassar probe

May 27 (UPI) -- The Justice Department has announced it will not bring charges against two former FBI special agents who failed to properly investigate allegations that former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar sexually abused athletes under his care.

The decision was announced in a statement Thursday, eight months after the Justice Department said it would review an earlier decision not to bring charges against the two agents who've been accused of mishandling allegations that were brought against Nassar.

Nassar, 57, is currently serving 40 to 175 years behind bars after being convicted on seven counts of criminal sexual conduct in 2018.

During his time serving as a USA Gymnastics doctor and a doctor at Michigan State from the mid-1980s to about the mid-2010s, Nassar was accused by more than 100 women and girls of sexual abuse, including from top athletes Simone Biles and Aly Raisman, among others.

An inspector general investigation into the FBI's handling of the case that was published last July found the FBI failed to respond to allegations "with the utmost seriousness and urgency that they deserved and required, made numerous and fundamental errors when they did respond to them and violated multiple FBI policies."

The report said two FBI agents mishandled allegations of sexual abuse of athletes by Nassar.

According to report, court documents indicate that more than 70 young athletes were sexually abused by Nassar between July 2015, which was when USA Gymnastics first reported allegations about Nassar to the FBI, and September 2016, when the Los Angeles Field Office began to investigate Nassar.

Nassar was arrested November 2016.

In the statement Thursday, the Justice Department said it was adhering to its prior decision to not bring federal criminal charges against the former agents.

"This decision comes after multiple reviews and analyses of evidence gathered in the investigation of the former agents, and reflects the recommendation of experienced prosecutors," the department said. "This does not in any way reflect a view that the investigation of Nassar was handled as it should have been, nor in any way reflect approval or disregard of the conduct of the former agents."

In September before Congress, Olympic gymnasts Biles, McKayala Maroney and Raisman and former national team member Maggie Nichols detailed for lawmakers how the system failed them.

"I don't want another young gymnast, Olympic athlete, or any individual to experience the horror that I and hundreds of others have endured before, during and continuing to this day," she said. "I blame Larry Nassar -- and I also blame an entire system that perpetrated his abuse."

This past winter saw more than 500 gymnasts who accused Nassar of sexual assault reach a $380 million settlement with USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee.