The Boy Scouts of America are preparing to ask sex abuse victims to vote for a $1.6 billion trust fund to settle their claims in a key step toward ending its contentious bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. The proposal sets potential payments based on the type of misconduct, ranging from $3,500 for allegations that did not include any physical touching to $600,000 for the most severe acts of sexual abuse. Those estimates are base amounts that assume there is enough money to fully cover all claims. In the coming months, victims will be asked to read a disclosure statement that describes the trust and how it would pay their claims. Depending on how many people apply to the trust and whether more money comes into the fund, victims could collect as little as 21% of the value of their claims to as much as 100%, according to court documents. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein will take the votes into account when she holds a hearing in late January to decide whether to approve the trust fund as part of the Boy Scouts’ bankruptcy exit plan. On Wednesday, Judge Silverstein finished a multi-day court hearing held by video about the disclosure statement and the voting rules.
