Bankruptcy judge signs off Boy Scout's $850 million sex abuse settlement deal

The U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein overseeing the Boy Scouts of America agreed to the organization’s request to sign off on an $850 million deal to address sex abuse allegations

The decision by Judge Silverstein allows the council to continue forward with a planned restructuring plan that would allow the organization to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of the year.

The Boy Scouts of America, located in Irving, Texas, filed for bankruptcy in February 2020. The submission was part of an effort to negotiate a global settlement of abuse claims and establish a compensation fund for victims.

The national Boy Scouts organization, roughly 250 local Boy Scout councils, and law firms representing approximately 82,000 men who claim they were abused as children by Scoutmasters and others.

It also includes the official victims' committee constituted by the bankruptcy trustee in the U.S.

The Boy Scouts have apologized and said they are committed to fulfilling their “social and moral responsibility to equitably compensate survivors,” Reuters reported. The organization has said "nothing can undo the tragic abuse that victims suffered" and that it believed the bankruptcy process was the best way to compensate them.

Apart from the $850 million settlement, the agreement involves the formation of a "child protection committee" to assure Scout's safety in the future.

The agreement resulted in one of the nation's biggest settlements in a sex abuse lawsuit.

With inputs from Reuters