FBI’s $139M settlement with Larry Nassar victims breathes life into Epstein accusers lawsuit
DOJ agreed to $139M settlement for Nassar's victims, who accused the FBI of failing to investigate the Olympic doctor
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The FBI’s $139 million settlement with more than a hundred victims of the disgraced Dr. Larry Nassar could set a precedent that would lift the chances of Jeffrey Epstein's accusers to prevail in a similar lawsuit, experts say.
"I think the Nassar settlement bodes well for the Epstein accusers," said Neama Rahmani, a Los Angeles-based trial attorney and former federal prosecutor. "It’s not easy to get damages from the government for its failure to act."
The Justice Department agreed last week to pay $138.7 million to settle 139 claims from victims who accused the FBI of mishandling sexual assault allegations against the disgraced former sports doctor in 2015 and 2016.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}DOJ SETTLES WITH LARRY NASSAR VICTIMS FOR $138.7M OVER FBI'S MISHANDLING OF SEX ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS
Former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar appears in court for his final sentencing phase in Eaton County Circuit Court on Feb. 5, 2018 in Charlotte, Michigan. (RENA LAVERTY/AFP via Getty Images)
"It’s not easy to get damages from the government for its failure to act."
"Civil liability against government agencies or employees usually requires an affirmative act such as police brutality or a civil rights violation," Rahmani added. "The fact that the Nassar victims were able to secure a nine-figure settlement means the Epstein plaintiffs will try to follow the same playbook."
In 2022, the Justice Department paid a $127.5 million settlement in lawsuits over the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}That is another example that could benefit Epstein’s accusers, according to former FBI agent Nicole Parker, who investigated the aftermath in Parkland.
US OLYMPIC GYMNASTS SLAM NASSAR INVESTIGATION, ALLEGE FBI 'TURNED A BLIND EYE,' FALSIFIED REPORT
"It's setting a precedent, as did Parkland, although that was not sexual in nature," she told Fox News Digital. "When the FBI drops the ball on these egregious violent crimes, that’s a problem."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}However, she added, part of the blame in the Epstein case falls on federal prosecutors who handed him a virtual slap on the wrist for sex trafficking charges in 2008. He spent 13 months in jail, during which he was allowed work-release and allegedly continued to abuse victims.
There are some differences.
Jeffrey Epstein pictured in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Sept. 8, 2004. (Rick Friedman/Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images)
"When the FBI drops the ball on these egregious violent crimes, that’s a problem."
Nassar was convicted of his crimes, while Epstein died before going to trial. Despite a series of lawsuits against rich and powerful men in his orbit, only his right-hand woman, Ghislaine Maxwell, was criminally convicted. She is appealing.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nassar worked at Michigan State University and was the team doctor at USA Gymnastics in Indianapolis. Several current and former athletes, including Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman and Maggie Nichols, all testified at a 2021 Senate hearing that the FBI failed to act on their complaints against him.
In February, a dozen Jane Does filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, alleging that the FBI failed to properly investigate the financier's sex-trafficking crimes as far back as the 1990s.
JEFFREY EPSTEIN'S SEX TRAFFICKING ACCOMPLICE GHISLAINE MAXWELL ASKS COURT TO OVERTURN CONVICTION
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former U.S. Olympic gymnasts McKayla Maroney, center, and Simone Biles, right, hold hands as they leave following their testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Sept. 15, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
"Jeffrey Epstein’s penchant for teenage girls was an open secret in the high society of Palm Beach, Florida and the Upper East Side of Manhattan which was disregarded by the FBI," reads the lawsuit on behalf of 12 Jane Does.
"Epstein orchestrated an illegal sex trafficking ring for the elite and the FBI failed to adequately investigate the abuse, failed to interview the victims, failed to investigate the crimes and did not follow routine procedure or offer victim assistance notwithstanding credible reports and tips."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A partially-redacted evidence photo shows various girls on Jeffrey Epstein's Little St. James Island in 2006. The documents pertaining to a 2017 civil lawsuit from Epstein-accuser Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell have been made public by a federal judge. (SDNY)
Allegations of child sex trafficking emerged as early as 1996, according to the lawsuit, when Epstein accuser Maria Farmer told New York City police and the FBI that she and her sister had been victims of Epstein and Maxwell. However, the FBI allegedly "'hung up' on her and did nothing to investigate the report," according to the lawsuit.
Allegations continued to crop up until Epstein was arrested for having sex with a child prostitute in 2005. Even his bank, JPMorgan Chase, alerted the government of "suspicious transactions" around this time. However, that information remained secret for almost 20 years, according to the lawsuit.
Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein smile in this undated photograph. This photo was one of many unearthed during Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial in the Southern District of New York, where she was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for working with Epstein to sexually abuse minors. (U.S. Department of Justice/Mega)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The FBI’s repeated and continued failures, delays and inaction allowed Epstein and others to continue their sex trafficking conspiracy for almost 25 years," lawyers for the Does allege.
The FBI has a policy of not commenting on pending litigation.
"We are pleased that the FBI did right by the Nassar victims, but here, the FBI continues to cover up and refuses to accept responsibility to the sexual abuse survivors of Jeffrey Epstein even though Christopher Wray was ordered to do so by the Senate Judiciary Committee," said Jordan Merson, one of the attorneys for Epstein’s accusers.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Merson added that while the suit was initially filed on behalf of a dozen women, his firm now represents 30 of them.
Epstein died in a federal jail cell in New York in 2019 while awaiting trial on additional sex-trafficking charges. His death was officially ruled a suicide. His family and some experts say the evidence does not add up.
Fox News' Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.