Aly Raisman wants to talk to incarcerated Larry Nasar. The 24-year-old Olympic gymnast filed court documents requesting permission to take a deposition from Nassar, who is serving time in the United States Penitentiary — Coleman II facility in Coleman, Florida for sexual abuse crimes.
As part of her lawsuit against the United States Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics for the repeated sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Nassar, she is seeking information from him in order to get answers about who else knew about his sexual abuse on gymnasts.
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According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Raisman is looking for details about “where Nassar’s molests occurred, how many times, who knew about those molests, [and] when those individuals learned about those molests.”
The Blast reports that Raisman said Nassar has not responded to the letter demanding his deposition and that she believes he is without a lawyer.
USA Gymnastics filed court documents in response to Raisman, praising her bravery but arguing that it is not to blame for her abuse.
“This case arises from despicable acts of criminal sexual abuse perpetrated by former physician and now-convicted felon Larry Nassar on Olympic gymnast, Alexandra Raisman.” It said it does not question whether Nassar inflicted physical and emotional pain on her and praises her “tremendous strength and courage” in response to his actions.
But it also says that California law says that only the perpetrator can be held liable for sexual harassment claims, and that Raisman failed to point out any specific evidence that USAG officials had prior knowledge of Nassar’s abuse.
“Ignorance without a reason to be suspicious is not a legal basis for ratification,” the organization said.
USAG is fighting to have all claims against them dismissed in the ongoing case.
As previously reported, Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison after pleading guilty to criminal sexual conduct and child pornography. He also faces an additional sentencing of 40-175 years for separate charges of sexual assault.
In her lawsuit against the United States Olympic Committee, Raisman claims that USOC did little to protect athletes from Nassar.
She claims in court documents that despite USOC taking pride in itself for being committed to “creating a safe and positive environment for athletes,” it failed to live up to its commitment by allowing Nassar to sexually assault dozens of female gymnasts. She also claims that USOC concealed its knowledge of Nassar’s offenses despite that they were made away of them as early as 2015.
Raisman was just one of the more than 150 women and girls who accused the former USA Gymnastics doctor of sexual abuse. She said she began seeing Nassar when she was 15 and has detailed the abuse in her book, Fierce.
