Background: In January 2018, after decades of wrongdoing by former USA Gymnastics athletic trainer, Larry Nassar is serving 175 years in prison after being proven guilty for sexual assault and child pornography.
As of July 2022, the FBI has opened talks with Nassar’s victims about a settlement for the preventable abuse they suffered. This agreement happened after the DOJ thrice declined to bring charges to the former FBI agents that botched the Nassar Case.
A group of 90 women including former U.S. Olympic team gymnasts Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman are now suing the FBI for mishandling the investigation of Larry Nassar.
According to a report from the Justice Department it was found that USA Gymnastics had previously reached out to the FBI multiple times regarding Nassar’s misconduct, first to the FBI’s Indianapolis field office in July 2015 then again to the Los Angeles field office in 2016, but no action was taken against Nassar either time to rectify the situation.
The mishandling of the investigation violated multiple FBI policies and in the report it is said that between the time of the first report and the time Nassar was actually arrested by Michigan officials in the fall of 2016 he had already had about 70 more victims. As a result 90 women, joining 13 others who filed a similar suit in April, are suing the FBI for $1 billion under the Federal Tort Claims Act which is a 1946 law that makes the United States liable for injuries “caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government while acting within the scope of his office or employment.” The lawsuits come two weeks after the FBI announced late last month that the agents responsible for mishandling the case won’t be charged with a crime and that they both had lied about their roles in the case to federal investigators.