Dozens of former gymnasts who say they were sexually assaulted by Larry Nassar are suing the FBI for more than $1 billion, citing FBI agents’ failure to act on accusations against the doctor.
Thirteen other athletes filed similar claims against the law enforcement agency in April. The claims filed Wednesday are new, and the FBI has six months to respond to the filing.
Among the more than 90 claimants are Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney.
Two weeks ago, the Justice Department declined to prosecute the two former FBI agents, W. Jay Abbott and Michael Langeman, who were accused of failing to act in 2015, when the FBI’s Indianapolis field office first received evidence of Nassar’s crimes.
Those suing the FBI say that they were abused by Nassar after that.
“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.
Last September, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimonies from Biles, Raisman, Maroney and Maggie Nichols.
At the time, FBI Director Christopher Wray acknowledged the FBI’s mistakes.
“I’m especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed. And that’s inexcusable,” Wray said during the hearing.
Biles called out the “entire system” for enabling and perpetrating the abuse.
“This is the largest case of sexual abuse in the history of American sport, and although there has been an independent investigation of the FBI’s handling of the case, neither USAG nor the USOPC have ever been made the subject of the same level of scrutiny,” she said. Maroney, meanwhile, said that there was “dead silence” when talking with the agents about Nassar.
Nassar is serving a de facto life sentence of up to 175 years in prison after being convicted on multiple counts of sexual assault and child pornography. He was arrested in fall of 2016 during an investigation by Michigan State University police.