The deplorable sexual abuse that Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles and many, many other gymnasts like her went through at the hands of former team doctor Larry Nassar shocked the world when she first went public as a survivor back in 2018.
Biles followed up with even more claims of abuse last year before Congress, this time in the form of negligence on behalf of the FBI and USA Gymnastics officials. Now, her and over 90 other gymnasts who say the feds turned a blind eye to Nassar’s sexual abuse are officially ready to take their fight to court.
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CNN reports that attorneys for the girls hit the FBI with punitive damages that total over $1 billion. They believe investigators in the case could have saved countless victims from the hands of Nassar had they acted sooner and not mishandled everything. Biles is joined in the claim by fellow Olympic gymnasts Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney, plus world championship medalist Maggie Nichols. All four are requesting $50 million each.
More in the forthcoming legal proceedings below, via CNN:
“Gymnasts Kaylee Lorincz and Hannah Morrow are each asking for $42.5 million, the attorneys said. Lawyers say most of the 90 women are asking for $10 million each; in total, the sum would be in the $1 billion to $1.2 billion range.
CNN contacted the Department of Justice, which oversees the FBI, and officials there declined to comment.
Under the Federal Tort Claims Act, claimants are required to give notice to the federal agency before a lawsuit is filed in federal court. The agency then has six months to either reach a settlement or deny the claim before the lawsuit can be brought.
In the notice of the Federal Tort Act claims, attorneys say the FBI had credible complaints from numerous victims by July 2015 — but neglected to interview them or properly investigate the abuse.”
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According to the claim, just one year of neglect by the FBI in this case was enough for Nassar to abuse a jaw-dropping number of young girls, with the docs stating, “FBI officials, who possessed this knowledge and were in a position to end Nassar’s predation, were grossly derelict in their duties resulting in Nassar sexually assaulting approximately 100 young women and children between July 28, 2015 and September 12, 2016, and conspired with the highest-ranking officials within the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and USA Gymnastics, Inc to conceal this known sexual abuse from foreseeable victims.”
Nassar is currently serving a 60-year sentence on child porn charges, in addition to a 40-to-175 year state prison sentence in Michigan stemming from seven counts of criminal sexual conduct. That may give his victims some form of comfort, but it’ll never heal the emotional scars that man left them to live with. For that reason alone, we hope Biles and every girl that’s suing comes out victorious.
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