People claiming they were sexually abused as children involved in Boy Scouts activities say they have turned up evidence that assets have been deliberately moved out of their reach as the youth organization tries to deal with its legal problems in bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Suspicions about potentially improper activity are feeding a growing mistrust in the chapter 11 proceeding of the Boy Scouts of America, which filed for bankruptcy protection to deal with litigation accusing it of failing to safeguard boys from predators in its ranks. Facing more than 10,000 claims of sexual abuse, the Boy Scouts say they want to negotiate rather than litigate and are seeking to set up a fund to pay victims. But with talks just getting started, victims say that the Boy Scouts aren’t watching over the assets needed to pay their claims. Days ago, the Middle Tennessee Council of the Boy Scouts transferred a property to an asset protection trust, a legal entity that shields the property from the claims of sexual-abuse victims, said James Stang, a lawyer for the official committee representing sexual-abuse victims, at a hearing yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Jessica Boelter, a lawyer for the Boy Scouts, said progress is being made in the bankruptcy proceeding, which has as its goal an agreed resolution of the child sexual-abuse claims that have shadowed the historic brand. Boy Scout local councils own most of the youth organization’s wealth, with more than $3 billion in land, facilities, artwork, investments and other assets, compared with the $1.4 billion that is on the books of the national group.
