Gymnasts file $1 billion lawsuit against the FBI

⚖️ A group of more than 90 women, including former Olympic gymnasts Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols, and Aly Raisman, are suing the FBI, seeking a collective $1+ billion over the mishandling of its investigation into convicted sex abuser Larry Nassar.

• The group is made up of women who were sexually assaulted by Nassar, the former doctor for Team USA, under the guise of medical treatment; it also includes dozens of women who were abused for over a year after the FBI was alerted to Nassar’s behavior.
• They join 13 other women who sued the FBI in April seeking a payout of $130 million under the Federal Tort Claims Act, a 1946 law that makes the US liable for injuries caused by “the negligent or wrongful act or omission” of any federal employee acting within the scope of their job.

📸 The big picture: Both lawsuits draw from a DOJ inspector general report published last year that found FBI agents who received the initial allegations in July 2015 failed to take the claims seriously, document the evidence they received, or transfer the case to their superiors – and then later lied to cover their mistakes.

• In late May, the DOJ said it was standing by an earlier decision not to charge the FBI agents named in the report.