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American Olympic gold medalist, Simone Biles is among 90 women of sexual assault victims who are seeking more than $1 billion from the FBI over its handling of the investigation and for failing to stop their abuser and sports doctor, Larry Nassar, lawyers said Wednesday, June 8.
Daily Mail reports that most of those making the claim say Nassar abused them after he was reported to the FBI in 2015, during a year-long period in which no meaningful investigative action was taken and he continued to sexually abuse young women and children.
Many are athletes who were associated with the USA Gymnastics programme or with Michigan State University, where Nassar had a clinic.
“It is time for the FBI to be held accountable,” said Maggie Nichols, a national champion gymnast at Oklahoma in 2017-19.
“If the FBI had simply done its job, Nassar would have been stopped before he ever had the chance to abuse hundreds of girls, including me,” said former University of Michigan gymnast Samantha Roy.
“It is time for the FBI to be held accountable,” said Maggie Nichols, a national champion gymnast at Oklahoma in 2017-19.
“If the FBI had simply done its job, Nassar would have been stopped before he ever had the chance to abuse hundreds of girls, including me,” said former University of Michigan gymnast Samantha Roy.
“My fellow survivors and I were betrayed by every institution that was supposed to protect us — the U.S. Olympic Committee, USA Gymnastics, the FBI and now the Department of Justice,” Maroney, an Olympic gold medalist, said in a statement. “It is clear that the only path to justice and healing is through the legal process.”
The Collective Administrative Claims are being filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which enables people who have been harmed by negligent or wrongful actions of the federal government to seek redress.
Thirteen other Nassar victims filed similar claims against the FBI in April. While Wednesday’s filing was not the first under the act, it is the largest, and it includes the most prominent of Nassar’s accusers. Raisman, Maroney and others have testified before Congress, calling for accountability at the FBI.
The claims detail a yearlong gap between when the FBI first received reports of Nassar’s abuse of gymnasts on the U.S. national team and his eventual arrest as a result of a local law enforcement investigation, not the FBI’s, reports Daily Mail.
“The FBI knew that Larry Nassar was a danger to children when his abuse of me was first reported in September of 2015. For 421 days they worked with USA Gymnastics and USOPC to hide this information from the public and allowed Nassar to continue molesting young women and girls. It is time for the FBI to be held accountable,” said NCAA national champion gymnast Maggie Nichols, the first Nassar victim whose case was reported to the FBI’s Indianapolis field office. (USOPC is the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee.)
While the latest is not the first, it is the largest, with around 90 claimants, according to California law firm Manly, Stewart & Finaldi.
Michigan State University, which was also accused of missing chances over many years to stop Nassar, agreed to pay $500m to more than 300 women and girls who were assaulted by him.
USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee made a $380m settlement.
Nassar pleaded guilty in 2018 to abusing 10 of the more than 265 patients who came forward to say they had been molested. He is serving up to 175 years in prison.
