More than 160 women say Larry Nassar sexually abused them.

It's one of the worst sexual abuse scandals

in the history of sports.

And it went on for more than two decades.

How did he get away with it?

“My real interest, of course, with dance and gymnastics

is my role with U.S.A. Gymnastics.”

Nassar had celebrity-like status in the elite gymnastics

and sports medicine world. U.S.A. Gymnastics gave him

countless awards.

He was inducted into Michigan State University's

hall of fame and governors appointed him to state licensing boards.

He even secured a patent for an ankle brace he invented.

Nassar's patients felt honored

to be treated by the best of the best.

Nassar typically carried out

his abuse under the guise of a medical treatment.

He hijacked a rare pelvic therapy,

that involves vaginal penetration,

and used it to treat all sorts of ailments.

He ignored protocol, such as using a glove, asking consent

or having a medical chaperone present.

“And when I was 14 years old,

I tore my hamstring in my right leg.

This was when he started performing the procedure

that we are all now familiar with.”

“The next visit was for my shoulder,

which I then found out my hips were out of alignment,

which then made my spine and my pelvic bone

out of alignment as well.

And this is when Larry decided that it was medically acceptable

to violate a 16-year-old girl.”

When confronted by parents, coaches, and eventually investigators,

Nassar said patients may have misunderstood his therapy.

Medical colleagues deferred to his expertise

After a 2014 investigation cleared his name,

Nassar was just reminded to follow procedures.

In the training camps of elite gymnastics,

where coaches are notoriously hard on athletes,

Nassar manipulated girls into believing he

was a trusted friend, advocate and even their protector.

“You have to protect your athletes.

You have to let them know that we care.

You have to, not let them know, but let them feel it.

Let them understand it. Let them breathe it.”

”He put my picture up on his wall with Olympians.

I thought I mattered to Larry.”

“You had me so wrapped around your finger,

and I still trusted you so much.

Even when I was a sophomore in college,

and you were the only person I called

to help me make the decision to end my

gymnastics career due to my injuries.

Nassar won over family members by offering a free treatment,

a quick diagnosis, or often the pretense of transparency.

“At the end of the appointment in your basement,

I remember asking, 'Do I owe you anything?'

Now it seems kind of sick.

You got what you wanted.”

He frequently molested young girls with parents

in the room, using a draped towel or practiced

positioning to conceal where his fingers were massaging.

“What kind of a person has the audacity

to sexually assault a child in front of their mother?”

It's still unclear who knew what when,

but for decades Nassar's employers

focused on their reputations and failed

to safeguard the young women in their care.

When U.S.A. Gymnastics got a complaint about Nassar in 2016,

the organization paid the gymnast $1.25 million

to stop her from speaking about the abuse.

Complaints about Nassar's treatments

reached officials at Michigan State University

as early as 1997,

The Detroit News has reported. That's 20

years before the prized doctor was terminated.

MSU has said that no one at the University

believed that Nassar committed sexual abuse prior

to the newspaper reports in the summer of 2016.

Nassar's victims say that if the university had investigated

the first complaint, scores of young girls

may have escaped the doctor's abuse.

“Larry Nassar did not arise in isolation.

Rather we saw the worst sexual assault scandal in history

unfold because a predator was left in power for decades.

Despite warning signs,

despite red flags, despite direct reports of assault.”