Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles and nearly 90 more women are seeking $1 billion from the FBI for its failure to stop sports doctor and convicted child molester Larry Nassar from assaulting them.
The lawsuit was announced as a series of tort claims against the Justice Department and the FBI over its agents’ lack of response to the allegations of Nassar sexually assaulting minors. Nassar was the team doctor for the US women’s gymnastics team and was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on child pornography charges in 2016.
Here’s what gymnast Maggie Nichols, a Team USA member, said in a statement:
“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.”
The claimants also include Maggie Nichols, a former national champion gymnast at Oklahoma who along with Biles, Maroney and Raisman first reported Nassar’s abuse in 2015, according to California law firm Manly, Stewart & Finaldi.
The FBI received “credible complaints” from numerous sources in July 2015, allowing the bureau to “immediately end” Nassar’s rampant abuse, but the agency declined to interview gymnasts who wanted to meet with agents, the law firm said in a statement Wednesday.
By failing to transfer the complaints to Lansing, Michigan, where Nassar continued to abuse young girls, the now-convicted sexual abuser was able to continue his “predatory behavior” and assault roughly 90 young women and girls between July 2015 and September 2016, attorneys claim.
The Gateway Pundit reported:
During testimony, the Inspector-General confirmed that more than 70 little girls were victimized AFTER the FBI got the case. Another miss by Chris Wray and the FBI.
Lawyers for 13 of the victims sued Chris Wray’s FBI last April for failure to act on reports of Nassar’s misconduct.
“French and others argue that the FBI was on notice by the summer of 2015 that Nassar had engaged in widespread and ongoing sexual assaults, under the guise of medical treatment. But, they said, the Bureau failed to take steps to halt the abuse or notify other law enforcement agencies that might have had jurisdiction,” NPR reported.
The DOJ announced in May 2022 that no charges will be brought against the FBI agents who disregarded the Larry Nassar sexual abuse accusations by America’s top gymnasts. According to the DOJ, there was insufficient evidence to bring a federal criminal case.
Nassar was later convicted of crimes that might not have happened if the agents addressed the issue when first notified.
Sources: TheGatewayPundit, NPR
Thomas Cooper