Boy Scouts Bankruptcy

In this Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, photo, a statue stands outside the Boys Scouts of America headquarters in Irving, Texas. The Boy Scouts of America has filed for bankruptcy protection as it faces a barrage of new sex-abuse lawsuits. The filing Tuesday, Feb. 18, in Wilmington, Delaware, is an attempt to work out a potentially mammoth compensation plan for abuse victims that will allow the 110-year-old organization to carry on. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

 LM Otero

WILMINGTON, De. (AP) -  The Boy Scouts of America has filed for bankruptcy protection as it faces a barrage of new sex-abuse lawsuits.

The filing Tuesday in Wilmington, Delaware, is an attempt to work out a potentially mammoth compensation plan for abuse victims that will allow the 110-year-old organization to carry on.

NBC reports, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America said in a statement that the filing had "two key objectives: equitably compensate victims who were harmed during their time in Scouting and continue carrying out its mission for years to come. The BSA intends to use the Chapter 11 process to create a Victims Compensation Trust that would provide equitable compensation to victims."

It could be one of the biggest, most complex bankruptcies ever seen.  

Scores of lawyers are seeking settlements on behalf of several thousand men who say they were molested as boys by scout leaders decades ago.

The organization could be forced to sell off some of its vast property holdings to raise money for a compensation fund that could surpass $1 billion.