Former college basketball coach Bobby Knight was the subject of an FBI investigation after he was accused of groping four women during a July 2015 trip a little-known US spy agency, according to an in-depth report from Craig Whitlock of The Washington Post.
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The FBI investigated allegations Bobby Knight groped women during visit to a spy agency
Former college basketball coach Bobby Knight was the subject of an FBI investigation after he was accused of groping four women.
Former Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight.
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Knight denied any wrongdoing and the FBI closed the case without charges more than a year after Knight was accused of inappropriately touching the women during a trip to give a speech at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. However, the Post story raises questions about how the case was handled.
According to the report, the FBI documented four incidents during its investigation. However, two of the women declined to file complaints and a third woman did not comment to the Post. The fourth woman has filed a sex and race discrimination complaint against the NGA, "alleging that she was denied promotion and given poor performance reviews in retaliation for reporting that she was groped by Knight," according to the Post.
Here are how the four incidents were described by the Post:
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Complicating matters is that Knight is a close family friend of the head of the NGA, Robert Cardillo — who asked Knight to give the talk — and Cardillo's father, Richard Cardillo, a retired Army brigadier general. The elder Cardillo was in the car during the first alleged incident, the Post said.
The report also raises questions about how the case was handled.
The allegations were initially handled by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command. However, the case was transferred to the FBI after a month due to Knight's status as a civilian. According to the Post, the case was inexplicably dormant for eight months until the FBI re-interviewed the women.
In July, 2016, a year after the alleged incidents, the FBI interviewed Knight for the first time. According to Knight's lawyer, Knight was unaware there was even an investigation until the interview. FBI agents were reportedly told to tell Knight "if there were any more complaints he could be arrested."
From the post:
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"Knight denied any wrongdoing to the FBI. His attorney, James Voyles, said that it was 'the first and only time' Knight had been interviewed by law enforcement agents about his visit to the NGA and that he had been unaware he was under investigation until the FBI contacted him."
"There is absolutely no credible evidence to support this in our opinion, these allegations," Voyles told the Post. "[The FBI agents] reported to their superiors that there was no basis for any further action, period."
When reached by Business Insider, Voyles reiterated that the case was closed by multiple agencies.
The Post attempted to contact Knight. His wife responded, saying, "Bob did nothing wrong and there is NO evidence to prove that he did. Case closed."
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