What Action, If Any, Could I Take Against An Abuser If The Abuse Happened When I Was A Child?

Writing this feels like an out of body experience. I’m gunna try to leave out as much emotion as a I can and just stick to facts. I (26F) was sexually abused as a child by an older peer, who we will refer to as “X”. When the abuse first started (from what I can recall) I was 6 years old, and X would have been around 12 (I think he is around 6-7 years older than me). The abuse happened sporadically throughout the next 6 years, the worst being when I was 12 and he was 18. I never told anyone; not until I turned 17. Finding out that my brother had also been a victim to this person’s abuse was eye opening for me. My brother and I told our parents together and never told anyone else. X’s family had very close ties to mine and we didn’t know what the fallout would be in our circle of friends and family or our broader community if we revealed this very private and painful information. This lead us to not take legal action against X. However, I have recently learned of two additional victims. X’s own sister and cousin have recently disclosed to me that he did the same thing to them. You may be wondering what would prompt them to reveal that information, which is a bit of a longer story that I’m happy to answer in the comments if that information is relevant. In the conversation I had with one of the victims (X’s sister), it was revealed to me that X’s father was in fact aware of the abuse (at least as I pertains to his daughter) and did nothing. My family continued having sleepovers and family vacations with them, none the wiser that multiple of the children in the group were being abused by X, and his father turned the other way. Who knows, maybe he knew all of us were being abused, not just his daughter, and STILL allowed it to continue.

All of this to say, I’m LIVID. I wasn’t livid when I was 17 and still processing my trauma and learning how to live with it. I am livid now. My brother and I thought we were doing the right thing back then by not making it a larger issue. We were scared teenagers. Now that this new information has come to light, I want to know what my options are. Is it too late for me and the other victims to take any kind of legal actions against X? Is there any kind of legal action I can take against the father as well? Is there a chance he could attempt to counter sue me for defamation, seeing as I have no physical proof of his crimes beyond our personal testimonies? Outside of the courtroom, is there a way I could tell people, even anonymously, the crimes X has committed by posting it online somewhere, without me facing any repercussions from doing so?

I just…I wish I knew then what I know now. I wish I hadn’t been so scared and had put myself first, instead of worrying about the pain it would cause others to learn of his crimes. Did I waste my chance at getting any justice?