United States Olympians Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, and others have slammed the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation for botching the Larry Nassar investigation in 2015. In a Senate hearing Wednesday, Sept. 15, lawmakers said the inability to properly investigate the USA Gymnastics doctor, allowed him to sexually assault 70 additional athletes.
Gymnasts such as Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, and Simone Biles testified at a Senate hearing Sept. 15, about the FBI’s failed 2015 investigation into claims of child sexual abuse against former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar.
Multiple gymnasts denounced Nassar, who is effectively serving life in prison for sexually assaulting hundreds of underage athletes, to the FBI in 2015. Two FBI agents in Indianapolis, on the other hand, did not take any action until more than a year later.
The FBI office in Indianapolis committed “basic mistakes” when investigating Nassar, according to a Department of Justice investigation released in July, including hiding and falsifying facts in their reports to FBI Headquarters regarding their interviews with Nassar’s victims.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz of the Department of Justice stated that the two FBI agents’ falsified statements “may have actually endangered the criminal investigations by adding false material that might have supported Nassar’s defense.”
Senators said Sept. 15 that Nassar molested at least 70 young athletes in the 15 months the FBI should have been investigating allegations.
Nassar sexually molested Maroney, Raisman, Biles, and fellow gymnast Maggie Nichols, who all testified Wednesday morning, under the pretext of medical treatment.
They accused USA Gymnastics, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and Michigan State University of neglecting to safeguard them and other young athletes throughout their testimony.
“I sit before you today to raise my voice so that no little girl must endure what I, the athletes at this table, and the countless others who needlessly suffered under Nassar’s guise of medical treatment which we continue to endure today,” Biles said.
“We have been failed and we deserve answers.”