The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy so that it can fund a string of lawsuits surrounding alleged child sex abuse stretching more than 70 years.
- The BSA announced on Tuesday that the filing would allow them to create a Victims Compensation Trust, after hundreds of lawsuits accuse scout leaders of molesting former scouts. Most of the cases, representing thousands of men, allege abuse between the 1960s and 1980s.
- BSA could be made to sell off some property and campgrounds to fund the trust. The 110-year-old organization said the filing would allow it to keep scouting programs going for “many years to come.”
- BSA CEO, Roger Mosby, said: “The BSA cares deeply about all victims of abuse and sincerely apologizes to anyone who was harmed during their time in Scouting. We are outraged that there have been times when individuals took advantage of our programs to harm innocent children.”