Gold medalist Simone Biles and other former Olympic athletes are seeking over $1 billion from the FBI for not being able to stop doctor Larry Nassar’s assaults, lawyers revealed.
According to reports, FBI agents knew that the disgraced sports doctor was accused of assaulting athletes. However, they failed to perform mandatory investigative duties, leaving Nassar free to keep on targeting girls and young women.
One of the lawsuits provided to Daily Mail read: “Even minimal compliance with these mandatory duties would have prevented the harm to Claimants and the other women and children Nassar assaulted between July 28, 2015 and September 12, 2016.”
While plaintiffs are seeking different amounts in damages, the total claim is over $1 billion, attorney John Manly said.
There are approximately 90 claimants, including Biles, McKayla Maroney, and Alysa Raisman.
“My fellow survivors and I were betrayed by every institution that was supposed to protect us — the US Olympic Committee, USA Gymnastics, the FBI and now the Department of Justice,” Maroney said in a statement.
“It is clear that the only path to justice and healing is through the legal process.”
National champion gymnast Maggie Nichols agreed, saying: “It’s time for the FBI to be held accountable.”
This comes two weeks after the Department of Justice’s decision not to prosecute former FBI agents accused of failing to continue the 2015 investigation into the doctor.
Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison. Hundreds of girls and young women, mostly gymnasts, said they were attacked during visits for leg, hip, and back injuries.
“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,” Samantha Roy, a former University of Michigan gymnast, said.
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