A group of 90 women, including US Olympic gymnasts Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman, sued the FBI over the way the feds handled the investigation into former US national team doctor Larry Nassar. , mistakes that allowed him to continue sexual harassment even after the reports made to the bureau in 2015. In all, compensation of a billion dollars is sought from the FBI under the Federal Tort Claims Act, a law of 1946 that considers the government federal liability for damages caused by the negligence of its officials. Already in April, another 13 women had filed an appeal against the FBI, after the Inspector General of the Justice Department ruled that the bureau had not seriously investigated the allegations against Nassar.
“The FBI knew that Nassar was a danger to children when his abuses against me were reported in 2015,” said former US national team gymnast Maggie Nichols, accusing the feds of having worked for “421 days together. to the US gymnastics federation to hide information from the public and allow Nassar to continue to harass young women and girls. “
The Justice Department acknowledged that the Indianapolis FBI office did nothing when the first complaints against Nassar were filed in July 2015. New complaints were then filed in May 2016 to the Los Angeles office which, although having investigated, he did not take action against the doctor who was then arrested in the fall of that year by the Michigan authorities. The Inspector General’s report found that Nassar molested about 70 women and girls in the period between the first FBI complaints and arrest in Michigan. In 2017 Nassar was sentenced to 60 years for child pornography and the following year to 175 years for sexual abuse of young athletes he was treating for two decades.