More than 90 female gymnasts plan to seek more than a billion dollars in compensation from the FBI, women and girls who were victimized by their team doctor, Larry Nassar, who was convicted of, among other things, multiple counts of sexual abuse of minors.
As CNN reports, the 90 women - now most of them gymnasts - are taking legal action to seek justice in the case against Nassar, a doctor on the US national gymnastics team who sexually abused hundreds of girls for years on the grounds that the FBI knew but delayed investigations.
In fact, according to their lawyers, if they are vindicated, the amount could exceed the aforementioned amount.
"The FBI was well aware that Larry Nassar was dangerous to children when my abuse became known in September 2015," said gymnast Maggie Nichols, a member of the U.S. national team.
"For 421 days, the FBI as well as the US Department of Justice worked with the Gymnastics Federation to withhold this information from the public and this allowed Nassar to continue to harass young women and girls. It is time for the FBI to be held accountable," Nichols added.
Among the nearly 90 victims seeking compensation are some of the most important female athletes in the history of gymnastics in the US, including Simone Biles, Allie Reisman and McKayla Maroney.
Attorneys for the women argue that the FBI had credible complaints from multiple victims by July 2015 but neglected to properly investigate the case.
The new lawsuit comes after the third refusal by the Justice Department to file a felony charge against FBI agents who failed to act on the matter. However, two agents are not part of the FBI's corps.
Investigations, after the case caused a global outcry, proved that the FBI was informed of the doctor's conduct but did not act for more than a year.
According to the victims' claims, "The FBI had credible allegations from multiple sources and evidence of Nassar's sexual assaults on young women and children over many years and around the world."
"FBI officials who had the information and were in a position to put an end to Nassar's actions were left holding the bag, resulting in the doctor sexually assaulting nearly 100 young women and children between July 28, 2015 and September 12, 2016 alone," CNN reported.
Furthermore, the FBI concealed the sexual assault while "in collusion with high-level officials of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committees."
The "envelope" of Larry Nassar's case is very large as he has been dealing with allegations of sexual abuse
of even children as young as 6 years old since 1998, yet he remained on the U.S. team for several years since then.
Also among the charges is possession of child pornography and destruction of evidence.
In January 2018, Larry Nassar was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to 60 years in federal prison.
Source: protothema.gr
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