WASHINGTON — More than 90 girls who say they have been sexually assaulted by Lawrence G. Nassar, the previous physician for U.S.A. Gymnastics who was convicted on state sexual abuse prices, have been planning to file lawsuits on Wednesday in opposition to the F.B.I. for its failure to research him when it acquired credible details about his crimes.
The lawsuits come two weeks after the Justice Department decided not to prosecute two former F.B.I. brokers accused of bungling the bureau’s 2015 investigation into Mr. Nassar, permitting him to assault ladies for greater than a yr earlier than Michigan authorities arrested him. The brokers have been accused by the Justice Department’s personal watchdog of creating false statements in regards to the matter.
The plaintiffs embody the Olympic gymnastics gold medalists Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney and the nationwide gymnastics medalist Maggie Nichols, in addition to the previous University of Michigan gymnast Samantha Roy and the previous gymnast Kaylee Lorincz, who now works as an advocate for sexual assault victims.
“My fellow survivors and I were betrayed by every institution that was supposed to protect us — the U.S. Olympic Committee, U.S.A. Gymnastics, the F.B.I. and now the Department of Justice,” Ms. Maroney mentioned in a press release. “It is clear that the only path to justice and healing is through the legal process,” she added.
The plaintiffs are looking for completely different quantities in damages, however their whole claims will exceed $1 billion, their lawyer, John C. Manly, mentioned in a press release.
Mr. Nassar, who was sentenced to as much as 175 years in jail, was accused of molesting a whole lot of women and girls, together with many members of the 2012 and 2016 U.S. Olympic girls’s gymnastics groups.
The F.B.I. discipline workplace in Indianapolis acquired proof of his crimes in 2015. Agents proceeded to interview gymnasts together with Ms. Maroney, who offered detailed testimony. Ultimately they took no motion to ramp up the investigation or cease Mr. Nassar.
The Justice Department’s inspector common later accused W. Jay Abbott, who was in control of the bureau’s Indianapolis discipline workplace, and Michael Langeman, an agent in that workplace, of creating false statements to investigators who have been trying into their actions.
In a report launched final summer season, the inspector common mentioned Mr. Abbott made false statements “to minimize errors made by the Indianapolis field office in connection with the handling of the Nassar allegations.”
He additionally mentioned Mr. Abbott was speaking to U.S.A. Gymnastics about potential job alternatives whereas he was asking the group in regards to the allegations in opposition to Mr. Nassar, actions that violated F.B.I. coverage.
The inspector common’s report mentioned the F.B.I. mishandled witness interviews and didn’t share credible info concerning abuse with related authorities.
It additionally discovered that 70 or extra athletes have been sexually abused by Mr. Nassar between July 2015, when U.S.A. Gymnastics first reported allegations in opposition to Mr. Nassar to the F.B.I.’s Indianapolis discipline workplace, and August 2016, when the Michigan State University Police Department acquired a separate criticism.
The girls suing the F.B.I. say that they have been abused throughout this era.
“If the F.B.I. had simply done its job, Nassar would have been stopped before he ever had the chance to abuse hundreds of girls, including me,” Ms. Roy mentioned in a press release.
