Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, and Maggie Nichols Testify Before Senate on FBI's Betrayal in Nassar Case

On September 15, 2021, Olympic gymnasts Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, and Maggie Nichols delivered powerful testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the FBI’s catastrophic mishandling of sexual abuse allegations against Larry Nassar. The athletes’ testimony exposed how the FBI not only failed to investigate credible allegations but actively enabled continued abuse through deliberate inaction and false documentation. FBI Director Christopher Wray also testified, apologizing to the gymnasts: ‘I’m sorry for what you and your families have been through. I’m sorry that so many different people let you down over and over again. And 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.’

McKayla Maroney testified that after telling her entire story of abuse to the FBI in summer 2015, ’not only did the FBI not report my abuse, but when they eventually documented my report 17 months later, they made entirely false claims about what I said.’ Maroney’s testimony revealed that FBI agents deliberately falsified documentation to cover up their failure to investigate—a betrayal that went beyond mere negligence to active obstruction. The false documentation served to protect the FBI’s reputation and relationship with USA Gymnastics rather than protect young athletes from a known sexual predator.

Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast in history, broke down in tears as she testified: ‘It truly feels like the FBI turned a blind eye to us and went out of its way to help protect’ USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Biles’ testimony made clear that she blamed not just Larry Nassar but the entire institutional system that enabled and perpetuated his abuse, including the FBI’s deliberate choice to prioritize institutional relationships over athlete safety.

Maggie Nichols, the first gymnast known to have reported allegations against Nassar to USA Gymnastics in 2015, testified: ‘I want everyone to know this did not happen to ‘gymnast two’ or ‘athlete A.’ It happened to me, Maggie Nichols.’ Her Olympic dreams ended in summer 2015 when she and her coach reported Nassar’s abuse to USA Gymnastics leadership—a report that went nowhere while the FBI sat on allegations for over a year. Aly Raisman testified that it took the FBI 14 months to interview her about Nassar despite many prior requests, demonstrating a pattern of deliberate avoidance rather than mere bureaucratic delay.

The September 2021 hearing came after the Justice Department Inspector General released a report finding that FBI agents in the Indianapolis Field Office violated numerous policies in handling the Nassar allegations, failed to document evidence properly, and made false statements to investigators. FBI Director Wray confirmed that Supervisory Special Agent Michael Langeman had been fired, but Special Agent in Charge W. Jay Abbott had retired in January 2018 before any review launched, escaping accountability. Most damning, the Justice Department under both the Trump and early Biden administrations declined to bring criminal charges against the FBI agents who lied to investigators—demonstrating that institutional protection extends even to law enforcement officials who enable child sexual abuse through deliberate malfeasance.

The gymnasts’ testimony left senators asking why FBI agents weren’t being prosecuted for their role in enabling dozens of additional sexual assaults. The hearing exposed how federal law enforcement institutions prioritize protecting their own reputation and institutional relationships over fulfilling their fundamental obligation to protect children from sexual predators. The FBI’s failures in the Nassar case represented not just individual agent misconduct but systemic institutional corruption that treated elite sports organizations as partners to be protected rather than entities to be regulated and investigated.