In this Nov. 22, 2017, file photo, Dr. Larry Nassar, 54, appears in court for a plea hearing in Lansing, Michigan. Nasser, a sports doctor accused of molesting girls while working for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, pleaded guilty.

One of the key people apparently fooled by Dr. Lawrence Nassar, the former Michigan State University sports doctor convicted of sexual abuse against student-athletes, was the in-house counsel who investigated a 2014 complaint against Nassar.

Kristine Moore has been assistant general counsel at the university since late 2014, but before taking that post she was an attorney and assistant director in MSU's Office for Inclusion, which investigated Title IX complaints.

Moore was assigned to investigate the complaint made by then-student Amanda Thomashow against Nassar, according to news reports, including the Detroit News. Moore, a former partner and labor and employment lawyer with Dickinson Wright in Lansing, did not return messages from ALM.

Moore's investigation included interviews with four doctors who knew MSU and Nassar, according to various news reports, including the Lansing State Journal. Nassar, who also served as a sports physician for U.S. Olympic gymnasts, said at the time that his touching of Thomashow was part of his valid treatment for her hip pain. And the doctors Moore interviewed in the investigation supported him, news reports said.

But Thomashow claimed Nassar fondled her breasts and rubbed her vaginal area. Her civil suit against MSU says Moore's report left out that Nassar had an erection while touching her, and that he refused to stop until she physically removed his hands.

According to news reports, Moore said Thomashow had misunderstood the “nuanced difference” between sexual touching and legitimate medical procedures. Moore did not know that there were other complaints about Nassar lodged with a coach, trainers and others at MSU. She believed Nassar's account of the incident, and cleared him of sexual misconduct.

Court testimony showed that Nassar continued to sexually abuse patients until August 2016, when some of the claims became public.

Besides Moore, at least three other MSU officials were aware of the 2014 complaint and its outcome, according to a December report from an NPR station in Michigan. They included MSU President Lou Anna Simon, Athletic Director Mark Hollis, and William Strampel, dean of MSU's College of Osteopathic Medicine, who continuously supported Nasser. All three have resigned in the past month.

In fairness to Moore, Nassar did fool many people. MSU's defense attorney Patrick Fitzgerald wrote in a December letter to Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, “It is clear that Nassar fooled everyone around him—patients, friends, colleagues, and fellow doctors at MSU. … We believe the evidence in this case will show that no one else at MSU knew that Nassar engaged in criminal behavior.”

Fitzgerald, a former U.S. attorney and now a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in Chicago, noted that an FBI review and a local police review led to no criminal charges against anyone but Nassar.

The letter said MSU directed the law firm that if it “found any evidence that anyone at MSU other than Nassar knew of Nassar's criminal behavior and did anything to conceal or facilitate it, then that evidence of criminal conduct would be reported immediately.”

But he said there was no such evidence because Nassar led a double life: first as a world-renowned doctor for athletes, and then as a sexual predator known only to his victims.

Schuette, however, still wants to dig deeper. On Saturday he named an independent special prosecutor to investigate “systemic issues with sexual misconduct” at MSU. He chose retired county prosecutor William Forsyth, who will be assisted by Michigan State Police.

“It is abundantly clear that a full and complete investigation of what happened at Michigan State University, from the president's office on down, is required. This investigation is and will continue to be independent, thorough, transparent and prompt,” Schuette said in a statement. “My department and this investigation will find out who knew what, and when.”

In other fallout from the Nassar scandal:

• The board of directors of USA Gymnastics said it would comply with a Jan. 25 letter from the U.S. Olympic Committee asking for corporate governance reforms, including the entire board's resignation.

• The NCAA has opened its own investigation into Michigan State athletics, perhaps also including recent allegations of sexual assaults by football and basketball players who were never charged.

• Several civil suits filed against MSU and USA Gymnastics by some of the 160 women who came forward to accuse Nassar are continuing. Fitzgerald's letter cited one plaintiffs attorney as saying the litigation could cost MSU over $1 billion in total.