Larry Nassar Sex Abuse Victim Is Seeking Over $1 Billion US Dollars From FBI For Not Intervening
Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles and dozens of other women who say they were sexually assaulted by Larry Nassar are seeking more than $1 billion from the FBI for failing to prevent a sports doctor from being convicted when The agency received the charges against him for the first time, attorneys said Wednesday. .
There was no question when FBI agents in 2015 learned that Nassar was accused of assaulting gymnasts, but they did not act, leaving him free to continue targeting women and girls for more than a year.
Under federal law, a government agency has six months to respond to torture requests filed Wednesday. Lawsuits are possible, depending on the FBI’s response.
About 90 claimants include Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney, all Olympic gold medalists, according to Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, a California law firm.
Former University of Michigan gymnast Samantha Roy said: “If the FBI had done its job, Nassar would have been stopped before he had a chance to abuse hundreds of girls, including myself. I.
An email seeking comment was sent to the FBI.
The Indianapolis-based American Gymnastics Company told local FBI agents in 2015 that three gymnasts said they had been assaulted by Nassar, a team doctor. But the FBI has not opened a formal investigation or notified federal or state authorities in Michigan, according to the Justice Department’s inspector general, an internal watchdog.
Los Angeles FBI agents in 2016 began a sex tourism investigation against Nassar and interviewed several victims but also failed to notify Michigan authorities, the inspector general said.
The Michigan attorney general’s office eventually settled the assault charges against Nassar, while federal prosecutors in Grand Rapids, Michigan, filed a child pornography case. He is in prison for decades.
In a speech to Congress last year, FBI Director Christopher Wray admitted major mistakes.
“I’m especially sorry that there are people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster in 2015 and failed. And that just can’t be explained,” Wray told victims at a news conference. hearings in the Senate.
The Justice Department said in May that it would not pursue criminal charges against former FBI agents who were accused of giving incorrect or incomplete answers in its investigation. inspector general.
Michigan State University, which also allegedly missed opportunities for years to stop Nassar, agreed to pay $500 million to more than 300 women and girls assaulted by Nassar. USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee have settled for $380 million.
