Larry Nassar Victims Are Now Suing The FBI

The FBI is being sued for allegedly performing a sloppy investigation on former U.S. Olympic Gymnastic Coach Larry Nassar.

Thirteen sexual assault survivors have sued the FBI for clumsily investigating sexual abuse cases that involved former Olympic gymnasts.

Victims who were sexually abused by Nassar alerted the FBI but it wasn’t until 18 months after being notified the FBI finally made an arrest.

During that 18-month span, Nassar reportedly abused more victims and now those victims are suing the FBI for not cracking down on Nassar sooner after being notified.

13 sexual abuse victims of ex-USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar will sue the FBI for $130M over failures to investigate: "They left us at the disposal of a predator."

It took the FBI 16 months to intervene after the first allegations, during which he abused at least 120 people. pic.twitter.com/eZlofrF1f2

— AJ+ (@ajplus) April 21, 2022

Thirteen female athletes who were sexually assaulted by Larry Nassar are seeking $10 million each from the FBI, alleging that agents mishandled an investigation and allowed the former sports doctor to continue abusing more victims.https://t.co/hOuFTEz64q

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 21, 2022

ESPN had these details to report:

Thirteen sexual assault survivors of Larry Nassar are seeking $10 million each from the FBI, claiming a bungled investigation by agents led to more abuse by the sports doctor, lawyers said Thursday.

It’s an effort to make the government responsible for assaults that occurred after July 2015. The Justice Department’s inspector general concluded last year that the FBI made fundamental errors when it became aware of allegations against Nassar in 2015.

Nassar was a Michigan State University sports doctor as well as a doctor at USA Gymnastics. He is serving decades in prison for assaulting female athletes, including medal-winning Olympic gymnasts.

“This was not a case involving fake 20 dollar bills or tax cheats,” attorney Jamie White said. “These were allegations of a serial rapist who was known to the FBI as the Olympic U.S. doctor with unfettered access to young women.”

Nassar, he added, continued a “reign of terror for 17 unnecessary months.”

Simone Biles and retired gymnasts testified over FBI failures to investigate Larry Nassar, blaming "an entire system" for enabling his abuse.

"What is the point of reporting abuse? … They had legal, legitimate evidence of child abuse and did nothing."pic.twitter.com/9RlbGPGCSZ

— AJ+ (@ajplus) April 21, 2022

Fox News added these details:

The FBI committed an “unspeakable” failure by not addressing U.S. gymnasts’ allegations of abuse from now-convicted sexual assailant Larry Nassar.

Attorney General Merrick Garland apologized for the FBI’s alleged negligence handling the case at a Senate hearing Tuesday. Nassar was a Michigan State University sports doctor as well as a doctor at USA Gymnastics. He is serving decades in prison for assaulting female athletes, including medal-winning Olympic gymnasts. Nassar’s victims sought help from the FBI over his criminal behavior. However, Garland now agrees the FBI’s ambivalence was “a horrible institutional failure.”

“It’s almost unspeakable. It is unspeakable,” Garland told Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., during the hearing. “What happened to those gymnasts and also the unspeakable way in which the investigation failed to proceed. We have created institutional changes in that regard to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman, alongside fellow gymnast Maggie Nichols, recounted their experiences before the Senate Judiciary Committee last year, in the wake of a Justice Department inspector general’s report that revealed how the FBI failed to act on their complaints of misconduct and assault. As a result, they said, Nassar – who once served as a doctor for USA Gymnastics – was able to continue his pattern of abuse against young women and girls.