Simone Biles, United States’ Olympic gold medalist, Aly Raisman and several female athletes on Wednesday filed a more than $1 billion claim against the FBI. The women have accused the federal agency of mishandling of the investigation into sexual abuse by former team doctor Larry Nassar.

The FBI, as per the the allegation, knew about Nassar’s actions in 2015 but failed to act. The gymnasts said that the doctor was left free to continue to target young women and girls for more than a year. He pleaded guilty in 2017 and is serving decades in prison.

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The US  Justice Department last month said that it will not pursue criminal charges against the former FBI agents who failed to quickly open an investigation. 

“It is time for the FBI to be held accountable,” Maggie Nichols, a national champion gymnast at Oklahoma in 2017-19, said. 

The agency now has six months to respond to the claims, as per federal law. Lawsuits could follow, depending on the FBI’s response.

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Nassar, a then Michigan State University sports doctor and doctor at USA Gymnastics, sexually assaulted more than 300 women. An Indianapolis-based department told FBI agents in 2015 that three gymnasts had made accusations against him. But the agency did not open a formal investigation or inform federal or state authorities in Michigan, according to the inspector general’s report. 

The FBI are also accused of receiving a top about the 2018 massacre at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School five weeks before 17 people were killed. It was however never forwarded to the FBI’s South Florida office. The government agreed to pay $127.5 million to families of those killed or injured.

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The approximately 90 claimants include Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney, all Olympic gold medalists, according to Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, a California law firm. Separately, 13 claims were filed by others in April.

“If the FBI had simply done its job, Nassar would have been stopped before he ever had the chance to abuse hundreds of girls, including me,” said former University of Michigan gymnast Samantha Roy.

In remarks to Congress last year, FBI Director Christopher Wray acknowledged major mistakes.

“I’m especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed. And that’s inexcusable,” Wray told victims at a Senate hearing.