By Steve Neavling
Thirteen sexual abuse survivors of disgraced former USA Gymnastic team doctor Larry Nassar are each seeking $10 million from the FBI, alleging that Nassar continued to abuse victims because agents mishandled the investigation, lawyers said Thursday.
“This is the largest failure on the part of law enforcement in the history of the world as it pertains to the protection of children, and there must be institutional accountability to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” attorney Jamie White said in a statement, Reuters reports.
The Justice Department’s inspector general concluded in July 2021 that the bureau bungled the investigation, and the FBI acknowledged the findings and made no excuse for the blunders.
During the investigation, which began in 2015, the FBI waited five weeks to interview one of the victims and failed to notify the FBI’s Lansing office or state law enforcement.
The report accused W. Jay Abbot, the former special agent in charge of the Indianapolis Field Office, of lying to the inspector general during the internal investigation “to minimize errors” made by his office.
According to the report, Nassar sexually abused at least 70 young athletes between 2015 and August 2016. Nassar is effectively serving a life sentence in prison.
