Have any law enforcement investigations or court cases been opened about sexual misconduct by Joe Biden?

1. What the allegations are and who reported them

Several outlets catalogued complaints that range from “inappropriate touching” by eight women to Tara Reade’s 1993 allegation of sexual assault; Business Insider summarized eight accusations of inappropriate touching and noted Reade’s separate allegation of sexual assault ^{[2] [1]}. The New York Times, Washington Post, AP, BBC and other outlets examined those claims during 2020 reporting, with varying emphasis on the types of conduct alleged and the number of women who came forward ^{[3] [4] [5]}.

2. Did news organizations find corroboration or a pattern?

Extensive journalistic investigations reported limited corroboration for Reade’s detailed assault claim and concluded they found no pattern of sexual assault by Biden. The New York Times’s reporting — cited by multiple outlets — said it found no corroboration from former staff and “no pattern of sexual misconduct” ^{[3] [6]}. The AP likewise reported that its review, and those by The New York Times and The Washington Post, found “no other allegation of sexual assault against Biden and no pattern of sexual misconduct” ^[4].

3. Were criminal or civil cases opened according to these sources?

Available sources in the provided set describe media inquiries, public allegations, and requests for records, but they do not report an open criminal investigation or indictment of Biden tied to these allegations. For example, reporting notes Reade said she filed a 1993 complaint with Senate human resources, but that complaint as described did not include an accusation of sexual assault in the documents cited by reporters; subsequent press requests to the Secretary of the Senate about records were met with a statement that she lacked authority to release certain personnel files — not with evidence of an active prosecution ^{[7] [6]}. The PBS and BBC summaries likewise describe allegations and reporting but do not cite a law‑enforcement prosecution ^{[8] [5]}.

4. What investigators and journalists looked for — and what they found

Journalists typically sought contemporaneous witnesses, corroborating documentation, and patterns of behavior. The Times and others interviewed former staffers and acquaintances from the 1990s and found none who corroborated Reade’s detailed account; those reports stressed the absence of corroboration rather than a formal investigative referral to prosecutors ^{[3] [6]}. Business Insider and other outlets compiled lists of women who said they were made uncomfortable by Biden’s tactile behavior, distinguishing those anecdotes from an allegation of sexual assault ^{[2] [1]}.

5. Competing perspectives and political context

Commentators and legal scholars diverged on how to treat the allegations. Some writers urged careful, impartial assessment consistent with #MeToo principles; others argued political motives or inconsistencies in recollections should temper conclusions ^{[9] [10]}. The Biden campaign emphatically denied Reade’s assault allegation, and cited press inquiries that found no corroborated pattern of assault ^[4]. Political actors across the spectrum used the reporting to support differing narratives — either calling for fuller investigation or warning against politically motivated smears ^{[10] [4]}.

6. What is not found in the current reporting set

The provided sources do not document a criminal indictment, an active law‑enforcement investigation brought publicly by prosecutors, or a civil lawsuit culminating in judicial findings against Biden regarding the Reade allegation or the other complaints (not found in current reporting). If you seek the absolute latest on any possible investigations or court filings after these articles, those developments are not covered in the materials you supplied (not found in current reporting).

7. How to interpret the record and next steps for readers

The record in these sources is a distinction between public allegations, extensive news inquiries that report limited corroboration and no identified pattern of sexual assault, and an absence of reported criminal or civil adjudication against Biden in the supplied reporting ^{[3] [4] [2]}. To resolve remaining uncertainty, readers should look for primary documents (police reports, court dockets, or statements from prosecuting authorities) and more recent reporting beyond this collection; the sources here show journalistic scrutiny but do not substitute for formal legal action ^{[6] [8]}.

Sources cited above include Business Insider, Washington Post, AP, BBC, PBS, Forbes and archived compilations referenced in those reports ^{[2] [3] [4] [5] [8] [6] [1]}.