Gymnasts sue FBI for $1 billion over mishandling of Larry Nassar case

The women are collectively seeking more than $1 billion from the FBI in a lawsuit filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 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.” They join 13 others who in April filed a similar lawsuit against the FBI, citing a July report released by the Justice Department’s inspector general that found the bureau failed to properly investigate serious sex-abuse allegations against Nassar.

“The FBI knew that Larry Nassar was a danger to children when his abuse of me was first reported in September of 2015. For 421 days they worked with USA Gymnastics and USOPC to hide this information from the public and allowed Nassar to continue molesting young women and girls. It is time for the FBI to be held accountable,” former Team USA gymnast Maggie Nichols said in a statement released by lawyers representing the group of women.

The Justice Department report found that USA Gymnastics contacted the FBI’s Indianapolis field office in July 2015 about the allegations against Nassar, but that office’s inaction led USA Gymnastics to again report Nassar in May 2016 to a Los Angeles FBI field office. That office put more work into an investigation but took no action against Nassar.

According to the report, Nassar victimized about 70 women and girls between the time when the FBI was first told of the allegations and when Michigan officials arrested him in the fall of 2016 on the basis of separate information.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that “senior officials in the FBI Indianapolis Field Office failed to respond to the Nassar allegations with the utmost seriousness and urgency that they deserved and required, made numerous and fundamental errors when they did respond to them, and violated multiple FBI policies” before attempting to blame others when confronted with their shortcomings.... (Read more)

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