More than 90 women who claim to have been sexually assaulted by USA Gymnastics (USAG) doctor Larry Nassar have announced plans to file a $1 billion lawsuit against the FBI.
As reported by ABC News, the legal team for the women said on Wednesday that they will be filing a series of tort claims against both the FBI and the Justice Department over the failure to investigate the doctor despite receiving credible information about his crimes.
Plaintiffs involved in the planned filing include Olympic gymnastics gold medalists Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and McKayla Maroney, as well as national gymnastics medalist Maggie Nichols.
Per ABC News, Nichols said in a statement: "The FBI knew that Larry Nassar was a danger to children when his abuse of me was first reported in September of 2015."
She added: "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."
The New York Times adds that the planned filings come two weeks after the Justice Department opted not to prosecute two former FBI agents who were accused to bungling a 2015 investigation into Nassar.
This would allow the doctor to continue to assault more victims for over a year before finally being arrested by Michigan authorities.
The clients will be represented by lawyers from the firms Manly Stewart & Finaldi, Pitt McGehee Palmer Bonanni & Rivers, Grewal Law and Drew, Cooper & Anding, and Gruel Mills. And although the total claims are reported to exceed $1 billion, the amount of damages sought by each claimant differs.
In 2018, Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in prison after more than 150 women and girls testified in court that he sexually abused them over two decades.
Per CNN, the disgraced doctor was told by Judge Rosemarie Aquilina at the sentencing: "I've just signed your death warrant."
"I find that you don't get it, that you're a danger. That you remain a danger," she added.
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