Last week, the embattled Boy Scouts of America appeared to reach a settlement to pay out almost $1 billion dollars to the thousands of people who say that the organization failed to prevent sexual abuse.
Just the News reports that the $850 million settlement was reached in bankruptcy court.
These funds will be paid to the roughly 60,000 men who say that, as children, they were preyed upon by scout leaders or other officials when involved with Boy Scout troupes.
The Boy Scouts of America have been driven to bankruptcy amid the ongoing allegations, hundreds of which have come to light over the last year.
The settlement reached on Thursday of last week will have to be approved by a judge before the payments can be issued to the accusers.
According to The New York Times, one lawyer described the settlement as merely the “tip of the iceberg” and could likely be “the largest settlement of child sexual abuse claims in United States history.”
Indeed, this settlement figure is “many magnitudes” larger than other such high-profile cases, such as those filed against the Catholic Church and USA Gymnastics, the NYT notes.
“It’s really just a small down payment on what we will ultimately be able to deliver to the survivors,” Kenneth M. Rothweiler, who represents 16,800 of the accusers, told the paper.
“This significant step toward a global resolution benefits the entire Scouting community,” the statement said.
“This agreement will help local councils make their contributions to the trust without additional drain on their assets,” the organization added, “and will allow them to move forward with the national organization toward emergence from bankruptcy.”
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