Shortly after the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal broke in September 2016, W. Jay Abbott, the Special agent in charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis, reached out to USA Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny.
“Hang in there,” Abbott wrote in an email to Penny. “You’ll be all right.”
The email was among dozens of exchanges between the two men from July 28, 2015 when Penny first informed Abbott and two other FBI special agents of allegations that Nassar, then the U.S. Olympic and national team physician, had sexually abused three Team USA members, Maggie Nichols, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman.
The FBI’s repeated failure to act on that information, and Abbott and fellow agent Michael Langeman lying about the bureau’s mishandling of the Nassar case are the subject of a series of Collective Administrative Claims filed Wednesday against the FBI on behalf of more than 90 survivors including Olympic champions Simone Biles, Maroney, Raisman and world champion Nichols.
The claims, filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), alleges the FBI mishandled credible complaints of sexual assaults by Nassar received by the agency in July 2015. Under the 76-year-old statute, private parties can sue the U.S. government in federal court for offenses committed by persons working or acting on behalf of the federal government.
“The FBI knew that Larry Nassar was a danger to children when his abuse of me was first reported in 2015,” Nichols said in a statement. “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 filing comes less than two weeks after the Justice Department announced that it will not prosecute Abbott and Langeman for lying to DOJ investigators reviewing the FBI’s mishandling of the Nassar and USA Gymnastics sex abuse case.
The DOJ decision followed more than a year of pressure from Capitol Hill, Olympians and other Nassar survivors and the public to reverse an earlier decision not to charge Abbott and Langeman for making false statements during a DOJ Office of the Inspector General investigation of the Nassar case.
“My fellow survivors and I were betrayed by every institution that was supposed to protect us – the US Olympic Committee, USA Gymnastics, the FBI and now the Department of Justice,” Maroney said in a statement. “I had some hope that they would keep their word and hold the FBI accountable after we poured out our hearts to the US Senate Judiciary Committee and begged for justice. It is clear that the only path to justice and healing is through the legal process.”
During the 15 months after the FBI was first made aware of allegations against Nassar, Penny and Abbott were in frequent contact. Penny consulted with Abbott on the Nassar case, updating the FBI on a USA Gymnastics’ plan for a false narrative that allowed Nassar to retire for personal reasons instead of alerting the public and potential survivors to the sexual abuse allegations against him, asking Abbott and other agents for advice and help in managing Nassar and the media, and in some cases for favors in how the FBI presented and handled the case, according to emails.
The favors included Penny asking agents to withhold information from potential victims, according to emails. Penny in turn recommended Abbott during this same time period to U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee officials for the organization’s top security job.
What Abbott and the FBI didn’t do during those 15 months was contact officials at Michigan State where Nassar continued to see patients until September 13, 2016 when his practice was suspended.
“This was a major failure of our justice system that cost hundreds of children their emotional lives,” John Manly, an attorney for the Nassar survivors, said in an interview. “The FBI helped USA Gymnastics write press releases to deceive people. This was just not a mistake. The FBI aided and abetted a child molester.”
The filing echoes a damning Justice Department Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report released last July that found multiple FBI agents and offices failed to respond to the Nassar allegations “with the urgency that the allegations required.”
Specifically, Abbott lied to OIG investigators about applying for a top level security position with the USOPC while consulting with Penny about the Nassar case. The report also found that FBI agents lied to investigators to cover up errors made in the bureau’s investigation of Nassar.
Abbott, a 30-year FBI veteran, retired from the bureau in January 2018.
The OIG also report found that, “After eight months of inaction by the FBI Indianapolis Field Office, the FBI Los Angeles Field Office received the same allegations. The OIG found that while the Los Angeles Field Office took numerous investigative steps, it too failed to notify the FBI Lansing Resident Agency, or state or local authorities, of the allegations, and failed to take other steps to mitigate the ongoing threat posed by Nassar.”
The OIG report also revealed that Langeman did not write a formal report of his 2015 interview with Olympic champion Maroney, who was repeatedly assaulted by Nassar, until nearly a year and a half later. Maroney and Manly said that they disputed the accuracy and veracity of the report. Langeman was fired from the bureau in September, according to FBI director Christopher Wray.
“The FBI was the only thing standing between Larry Nassar and those girls,” Manly said. “And the FBI did nothing, Abbott is (seeking a position) with the USOPC while a hundred kids were being sexually abused at Michigan State while the bureau knew all about Larry Nassar. (The FBI) absolutely knew when (the scandal) went public that they had deceived Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Maggie Nichols about what they knew about Nassar.”
The FBI’s mishandling of the case came on the watch of James B. Comey, who was the bureau’s director from 2013 until May 2017 when he was fired by President Trump.
“Jim Comey has never commented on this,” Manly said. “He’s completely ignored it. But he’ll talk about Hillary Clinton’s emails and he questions Trump. But Comey has never said a word about this and he paints himself as an American hero. Own up to it. How about saying you’re sorry?”
Source: Orange County Register
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