BUNGLED PROBE: Delays in FBI Prosecution of Sports Doctor Causing Pain for 13 New Sexual Assault Victims

Intro: No lawsuit yet. FBI has 6 months to respond

 

Gymnastics

Group of Larry Nassar survivors seeks $130m from FBI over bungled probe

• 13 Nassar victims seeking $130m over bungled investigation
• FBI director has said he’s ‘profoundly sorry’ about delays

Thirteen sexual assault victims of Larry Nassar are seeking $10m each from the FBI. Photograph: Matthew Dae Smith/AP

 

 

 

Associated Press

Thu 21 Apr 2022 12.29 EDT

Last modified on Thu 21 Apr 2022 12.30 EDT

"Thirteen sexual assault victims of Larry Nassar are seeking $10m each from the FBI, claiming a bungled investigation by agents led to more abuse by the sports doctor, lawyers said Thursday.

It’s an effort to make the government responsible for assaults that occurred after 2015. The Justice Department’s inspector general concluded last year that the FBI made fundamental errors when it became aware of allegations against Nassar that year. . .

Attorney Jamie White is not suing the FBI yet. Under federal law, tort claims must be a filed with a government agency, which then has six months to reply. A lawsuit could follow depending on the FBI’s response.

“No one should have been assaulted after the summer of 2015 because the FBI should have done its job,” said Grace French, founder of a group called The Army of Survivors. “To know that the FBI could have helped to avoid this trauma disgusts me.”

The inspector general’s investigation was spurred by allegations that the FBI failed to promptly address complaints made in 2015 against Nassar. It took months before agents opened a formal investigation.

Nassar was arrested by state authorities in November 2016.

FBI director Christopher Wray has said he’s “deeply and profoundly sorry” for delays in Nassar’s prosecution and the pain it caused.

The Michigan attorney general’s office ultimately handled the assault charges, while federal prosecutors in Grand Rapids, Michigan, filed a child pornography case against Nassar."

Nassar was a Michigan State University sports doctor as well as a doctor at USA Gymnastics. He is serving decades in prison for assaulting female athletes, including medal-winning Olympic gymnasts.