Boy Scouts of America settles for $850 million with more than 84,000 sexual abuse victims

The Boy Scouts of America reached an $850 million settlement Thursday with tens of thousands of people who say they were sexually abused when they were Scouts over decades and later sued in a case that rocked the historic institution.

The settlement, which came after the organization filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year while facing mounting legal costs over the abuse claims, is one of the largest of its kind in a child sexual abuse case in U.S. history. The lawsuit involved more than 84,000 people who claimed sexual abuse dating as far back as the 1960s.

Jason Amala, a lawyer whose firm represents more than 1,000 men who say they were sexually abused by Boy Scouts leaders and volunteers, said he will object to the BSA’s proposal.

“We’re very concerned,” Amala told The Post. “It equals less than $10,000 per survivor. They’re not offering that much more than they were in the last proposal, and nobody’s explaining why every survivor should be happy about this.”

At issue, he said, is the lack of transparency around how much each of the Boy Scouts’ nearly 300 local councils are worth and contributing to the settlement. Without that information, he said, there’s no way of knowing whether survivors are getting a fair settlement.