Almost 90,000 sexual abuse claims have been filed against the Boy Scouts of America as the Monday deadline arrived for submitting claims in the organization’s bankruptcy case.
The number far exceeds the initial projections of lawyers across the US who have been signing up clients since the Boy Scouts filed for bankruptcy protection in February following hundreds of lawsuits alleging decades-old sex abuse by Scout leaders.
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Paul Mones, a lawyer who has been working on Boy Scouts cases for nearly two decades, told AFP: “It’s by far the largest sexual abuse scandal in the U.S.,” He added that scouting has long offered a “perfect petri dish” for pedophiles: “boys have taken an oath of loyalty, they are away from their parents, in the wilderness.”
Press TV reports:“We are devastated by the number of lives impacted by past abuse in Scouting and moved by the bravery of those who have come forward,” the Boy Scouts said in a statement. “We are heartbroken that we cannot undo their pain.”
A few hours before the 5 p.m. EST deadline, the number of claims totaled 88,500, lawyers said.
Eventually, the proceedings in federal bankruptcy court will lead to the creation of a compensation fund to pay out settlements to abuse survivors whose claims are upheld.
The potential size of the fund is not yet known and will be the subject of complex negotiations. The national organization is expected to contribute a substantial portion of its assets, which include financial investments and real estate. The Boy Scouts’ insurers also will be contributing, as will the Boy Scouts’ roughly 260 local councils and companies that insured them in the past.
Andrew Van Arsdale, a lawyer with a network called Abused in Scouting, said it has signed up about 16,000 claimants. He said that number doubled after the Boy Scouts, under the supervision of a bankruptcy judge, launched a nationwide advertising campaign on Aug. 31 to notify victims that they had until Nov. 16 to seek compensation.
“They spent millions trying to encourage people to come forward,” Van Arsdale said. “Now, the question is whether they can make good on their commitment.”
The Boy Scouts said it “intentionally developed an open, accessible process to reach survivors and help them take an essential step toward receiving compensation.”
“The response we have seen from survivors has been gut-wrenching,” the organization added. “We are deeply sorry.”
The bankruptcy has been painful for the 110-year-old Boy Scouts, which has been a pillar of American civic life for generations. Its finances were already strained by sex abuse settlements and declining membership — now below 2 million from a peak of over 4 million in the 1970s.
Most of the pending sex abuse claims date to the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, before the Boy Scouts adopted criminal background checks, abuse prevention training for all staff and volunteers, and a rule that two or more adult leaders must be present during activities.
Among the contentious issues still to be addressed in the bankruptcy case is the extent to which the Boy Scouts’ local councils contribute to the compensation fund.
Source: ABC News
Niamh Harris
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The Boy Scout organization invited systemic child molestation and sodomy charges when they first allowed openly queer male boy scouts to join and then followed up that lunacy by allowing queer adult male troop leaders.
Boy Scout leaders ignored the well known fact that male queers are disproportionately pedophilic.
They succumbed to the militant queer advocacy of Democrat-Neocon trash.
The Democrats promote sexual deviancy, they would reward them.
I remember the big battle a few years ago about letting gay men into the boyscouts. they did, now look what happened.
You let liberals in, they will destroy what ever you have, especially if its wholesome.
B’bye BSA.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ea94d7343cff06bcf3a368bb09b953eac68c4b4474dc016a857730b8bddc2bca.jpg
All set up by Baden Powell ,the English man .From England where pedophilia is Iinstitionalised as a weapon of the class war and where the Lolita magazine originated. And Baden Powell’s grand son ,a leading light in Queensland real estate, is currently in jail for murdering his wife, btw .The fruit dont fall far from the tree
The illuminati has infiltrated most seemingly good organizations, red cross, catholic orphanges, shriners, etc boy scouts certainly as well. Assaulting kids in satanic rituals is far to standard, the elite families of the world assault their own kids as well……generational satanists
Pedo Joe https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6aa9fab2db2bf60bdb0c560757a18afc1b51d1c465894412609c39690695fc27.jpg
Run by The Mormons. Don’t forget that.
They were warned as was the public, and yet nobody stopped it. This is what you get when you do the will of Satan and not the will and work of God.