Biles a party in suit against governing body
An attorney representing four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles has for the first time identified Biles as a party in the USA Gymnastics bankruptcy case and in the ongoing lawsuit against USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee stemming from the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.
Biles, 23, of Spring is the only active athlete mentioned by name in a court filing entered this week in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in Indianapolis. She is represented by the Irvine, Calif., firm of Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, which represents several dozen gymnasts with claims against the USOPC and USA Gymnastics in federal court and also as claimants in the bankruptcy case.
The filing that mentioned Biles by name was an attempt by attorneys to require eight current or former Olympic committee officials and employees to comply within 30 days with subpoenas seeking depositions in lawsuits in California and Michigan stemming from the Nassar case.
Attorneys also are seeking access to requested documents from the USOPC officials, including former board chairman Larry Probst and former CEO Scott Blackmun, and to information regarding the USOPC’s finances that would enable claimants, including Biles, to determine the validity of USA Gymnastics’
proposed plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
USA Gymnastics has proposed a $217 million settlement plan for athletes who experienced abuse from Nassar or others, but attorneys for the claimants say the plan provides no information regarding the USOPC’s assets and liabilities. It also fails, they say, to disclose the degree to which officials with the USOPC, USA Gymnastics and the FBI were aware of abusive behavior by Nassar and others and failed to act in a timely fashion to stop it.
That information, the attorneys claim, could become available through depositions from the eight USOPC officials.
The Manly firm and other firms represent about 140 gymnasts who suffered abuse, nine of whom are mentioned by name in the motion filed this week. Among that group are Olympic gold medalists Aly Raisman, Madison Kocian,
McKayla Maroney, Kylan Ross and Jordyn Wieber, bronze medalist Jamie Dantzscher and Rachel Denhollander and Jessica Thomashow, who were abused by Nassar as gymnasts in Michigan.
Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics doctor, is serving the equivalent of a life sentence after pleading guilty in Michigan to state charges of sexual abuse and federal charges of possessing child pornography. He also faces felony charges in Walker County, the site of the former USA Gymnastics women’s national training center at the Sam Houston National Forest ranch owned by former national team coordinators Bela and Martha Karolyi.
Biles, a six-time national all-around champion and five-time all-around world champion, is currently training to compete in the delayed 2021 Tokyo Olympics.