Can the Boy Scouts survive a flood of sexual abuse claims?

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• Judy Woodruff:

  Now a day of reckoning for the Boy Scouts of America.

  As membership drops, a deadline has now passed for sexual abuse claims that could lead to a $1 billion compensation fund for victims.

  John Yang reports.

• John Yang:

  Judy, more than 95,000 people have come forward with sex abuse claims against the Boy Scouts. Experts say that's more than the number of accusations against the Catholic Church in the United States.

  The oldest in the Boy Scouts case is 93 years old. The youngest is 8.

  For some, even the process of filling out the claims form was traumatic.

  Gill Gayle, who is 58 and works in the movie industry, was abused by two separate Scoutmasters in the 1970s.

• Gill Gayle:

  It was the hardest thing I have ever done. It was more difficult than the first time I told a friend or a family member. It was more difficult than the first time I told a therapist or the first time I filed a police report.

  It is gut-wrenching. And I believe that is why several men weren't able to go through and join us in this process. For me, it's colored and informed every decision in my life.

• John Yang:

  This is all part of the Boy Scouts of America's bankruptcy filing, which they say is the only way they can deal with all the claims against them.

  Attorney Timothy Kosnoff is part of a group that represents thousands of survivors of abuse in the Boy Scouts case.

  Mr. Kosnoff, thanks for joining us.

  One of your colleagues was telling me that, in the vast majority of these claims, each claim is naming a different abuser, that it is very unusual to find even two claims that name the same abuser. What does that tell you?

• Timothy Kosnoff:

  What it tells me is that, even though close to 100,000 men have come forward, there were millions out there that didn't come forward.

  Each one of the men that does come forward represents one of probably 100 victims that that perpetrator abused. We know from statistics that pedophiles have, on average, 100 victims over a lifetime of offending.

  Our data shows that 95 percent of our clients identify abusers that have never previously been identified before. We have a handful of people who were abused by a common abuser, but the overwhelming supermajority were abused by different Scoutmasters.

• John Yang:

  What's the next step for the people who filed these claims? What is the next step in this process?

• Timothy Kosnoff:

  Well, it's a good question.

  I don't — personally, I don't believe there is going to be a next step in terms of a plan that would allow the Boy Scouts to emerge and go back to business. I think it is inevitable that this will end in liquidation, and soon. The Boy Scouts don't have enough money to continue.

  And it seems highly improbable that any deal could be worked out that would be acceptable to the victims., in fact, I think a liquidation is the best avenue for victims to receive adequate compensation for what happened.

  But with 100,000 victims and the fact that the Boy Scouts have had no revenue as a result of COVID, and will have no revenue for the next year, I don't see that there is a viable path for them to go back into business. I think they're finished.

• John Yang:

  Would that be just the Boy Scouts — as we have talked about, there's the Boy Scouts of America, which is the national organization umbrella group, which has filed for bankruptcy, and then there are the local councils all across the country, which also have assets which are not involved in this bankruptcy.

  Would that be the whole kit and caboodle, do you think, that would go away? Or would the local councils be able to survive?

• Timothy Kosnoff:

  Yes, it has been a fiction that the BSA and the councils have been trying to push, which is that they're somehow separate.

  The assets of the organization, including the councils, are all subject to the claims of these predators — these victims. And so, yes, what I foresee is that all of the councils' assets will have to be sold off as well.

  The councils maintain that they have a separate existence, but under the rules and regulations and bylaws, they are totally owned and controlled by BSA National.

• John Yang:

  But even under — if this were to happen, if they were to liquidate, would the assets go, would the proceeds of that liquidation go to these 95,000 people who have claimed — filed claims?

• Timothy Kosnoff:

  Yes, not just the assets, but also the insurance, which is ample.

  The Boy Scouts are a melted ice cube. They don't have but a few months to live. So, I don't see a deal coming forward in time to save the Boy Scouts of America. This whole thing was completely mishandled by the Boy Scouts and the bankruptcy attorneys.

  And it will, I predict, turn into a liquidation. And I think that's the best result that these survivors can hope for.

• John Yang:

  Timothy Kosnoff, thank you very much.

• Timothy Kosnoff:

  Thank you.

• John Yang:

  On its website, Boy Scouts of America says scouting continues.

  And, today, they released a statement: "We are devastated by the numbers of lives impacted by past abuse in Scouting and moved by the bravery of those who have come forward. We are heartbroken that we cannot undo their pain."