Approximately 300 pinwheels sit outside the Hannah Administration Building to represent all the survivors of Larry Nassar on June 22, 2018.
Ninety more women have joined in filing federal claims against the FBI for the mishandling of its investigation into sexual abuse by ex-MSU doctor Larry Nassar, according to an AP News report.
Olympic gymnasts Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman are among the 90 women seeking over $1 billion in damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which enables people who have been harmed by negligent or wrongful actions of the federal government to seek redress.
The group joins 13 other survivors who on April 20 filed separate claims against the FBI for negligent failure to investigate Nassar’s sexual abuse allegations. Two of these survivors are Grace French and Lindsey Lemke while the other eleven are anonymous.
On July 28, 2015, the FBI learned of three gymnasts who Nassar assaulted, but despite formal policy requiring the bureau to investigate reports of child abuse immediately, little action was taken and Nassar was able to abuse over 100 more women and girls until his eventual arrest in late 2016 and subsequent conviction.
The filings come after the Department of Justice announced that it will not bring federal criminal charges to two former FBI agents involved in the Nassar investigation.
However, an Office of Inspector General’s report found that the FBI field branch of Indianapolis, “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.”
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