The claimants include Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols, and Aly Raisman, the elite gymnasts who were first identified in the summer of 2015 as having been sexually abused under the guise of medical treatment by the then-doctor to the national women's gymnastics team.
The group also includes dozens of Nassar patients who were sexually abused by him for more than a year after the FBI was made aware of the gymnasts' concerns, according to their lawyers.
The allegations are based on a report released last year by the Justice Department's inspector general, which was harshly critical of the FBI. The report found that FBI agents in Indianapolis, who received an initial visit from USA Gymnastics on July 28, 2015, did not take the allegations seriously, did not document the evidence they received, and did not transfer the allegations to the FBI's resident agency in Lansing, Mich. According to the report, the agents later made false statements to cover up their mistakes.
After USA Gymnastics reported Nassar to the FBI, he continued to see patients for nearly 14 months. In the fall of 2016, he was publicly accused of assault, and by early 2018, he had been sentenced to an effective life sentence in prison on sexual abuse and child pornography charges.
The FBI did not respond immediately.
The claims come after the Justice Department stated in late May that it would not charge the Indianapolis FBI agents who received the most criticism in the inspector general's report.
Biles, Maroney, Nichols, and Raisman, who are among the most well-known athletes in the world, are seeking $50 million from the governing body, according to their lawyers. That is based on their distress at being misled about the investigation and discovering that reports of what happened to them were insufficient to protect others.
The other women and girls, some of whom have been identified by name, claim Nassar assaulted them after the FBI received "credible complaints from numerous sources and corroborating evidence." The amounts they are requesting differ. Samantha Roy, a Michigan gymnast who was 18 in 2015, claims Nassar assaulted her at least 40 times after July 28, 2015. She claims she was abused by him before, beginning when she was 12 years old.
Manly Stewart & Finaldi, Pitt McGehee Palmer Bonanni & Rivers, Grewal Law and Drew, Cooper & Anding, and Gruel Mills are the law firms representing the group.
At a congressional hearing last month, Christopher Wray, the FBI's director since 2017, stated that the bureau has made a number of changes since the case began.
"Now that I'm here, I'm determined to make it right, and we're going to make sure that everyone in the FBI learns the lessons from that tragic experience," he said.
According to Maroney's claim, FBI agents made damaging misrepresentations about her. The FBI's Indianapolis field office telephonic interview with Maroney in early September 2015 was one of the most damning points in the inspector general's report. The agent who conducted the interview did not document it until February 2017, when The Wall Street Journal first reported on the investigation's delays. The agent then recorded statements that Maroney claims she never made and never will make.
Maroney testified before the United States Senate that "talking about this abuse would give me PTSD for days," but she chose to speak out in order to "make a difference and protect others." It was one of the worst things that had happened to her, she said, to have it "minimized and disregarded" by the FBI.
Biles, who was unaware that she had been identified as a potential victim of the doctor, claims that she was harmed by not knowing that her medical treatment had been abusive.
Some of Wray's apology statements are included in the claims filed on Wednesday.
In recent months, the FBI and Justice Department have attempted to highlight changes in the way they investigate sex assault cases. The Justice Department, for example, has directed federal agents and prosecutors to work more closely with their state and local counterparts in cases even if federal charges are not filed.
This is in response to revelations in the inspector general's report that the FBI failed to notify state and local authorities of Nassar's ongoing threat.
When the Justice Department announced last month that it would not charge the FBI agents, it stated that it had done so based on "the recommendation of experienced prosecutors," and that the outcome "does not in any way reflect a view that the investigation of Nassar was handled as it should have been."
Thirteen other women who were assaulted by Nassar after reporting him to the FBI filed the first administrative tort claims against the agency in late April.